• Saturday: Round Robin Pool play that will seed all the teams for Sunday's single elimination bracket.
• Sunday: Single elimination bracket, up to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals will be played, the two winners of the semi-finals will play each other for 1^st and 2^nd place, the losers of the semi-finals will play each other for 3^rd and 4^th place.  All 4 of those teams will receive an automatic bid to the National Championships in Florida! 

The winner of each Regional Qualifier will receive a Top 7 National Seed and have an automatic bye into the 39 Team National Championship Bracket.  They will not have to play pool play for seeding at the National Championships.

• 7 Regional Qualifiers which equates to 28 Automatic Bids to the National Championships.
• 11 At Large bids that will be determined by a team's pool play record / point differential at the Regional Qualifier.

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Yes, teams can participate in more than one qualifier if they want to increase their chances of securing a spot in the Championships or get more competitive match experience. If a team that already possesses a bid is a top finisher in another Qualifier, the opportunity for a bid will extend to the next highest-ranking team. For seeding in the Championships, the APP will use the team’s points from its top qualifying performance at Qualifiers. A max of three teams from one school will be allowed into each Qualifier. If there is availability past the Cancellation deadline, additional teams from the same school may be added.

We have adapted the format for the team competition based on learnings from the 2025 APP U.S. Championships, so pay close attention!

The tournament format for the Qualifiers and Championships will be round-robin match play followed by single elimination playoffs. Each team will consist of a minimum of two men and two women and a maximum of three men and three women. 

The first phase of the competition is Pool Play. After pool play is completed, teams are seeded in a single elimination Playoff and proceed through bracket play. Seeds are determined by total wins and point differential within pool play. Any Singles tie breaker games will not be included in the point's differential equation.

Each match will consist of five games played in the following order:

• Gender Doubles
• Gender Doubles
• Mixed Doubles
• Mixed Doubles
• Singles Tiebreaker (if necessary)

4 games to 15 (rally scoring, win by 2, win on your serve) constitute one match.  If the games are even at 2 games for each team, then we will play one singles game to 21 for the tiebreaker (rally scoring, win by 2, must win on your serve). 

In the singles tiebreaker, the teams will set an order of play for all 4 players, and they will rotate in through that order after every 4 points played. Any player listed on the team roster can participate in the Singles tie-breaker game.

How are points awarded for Match Play?

• If a team wins the match 3-1, 4-0: They receive 3 POINTS
• If a team wins in the singles tiebreaker: They receive 2 POINTS
• If a team loses in the singles tiebreaker: They receive 1 POINT
• If a team loses 1-3, 0-4: They receive 0 POINTS
• Any ties for seeding into the single elimination bracket, and for At Large bids, will be broken by head-to-head first, then point differential.

Some other rules of note for the team competition:

• Rally scoring as governed by USAP Rule 4.F.1 will be used for each game played.
• There will be a break of up to 2 minutes between games and up to 10 minutes between matches.
• Coin flip to determine choice of:
  
  • ​React to Mixed Line-up (choosing this gives you the ability to see the other teams mixed roster selection before you need to decide yours). Whoever reacts to MXD doubles, the opposite team will get to react to line-up in Singles Tie Breaker.
  • Which gender goes first – this choice applies only to this match
  • Serve or Receive -this choice will apply to all 4 games in the match
  • Starting end – wherever the previous game ends, the next game will begin, including the Singles Tie breaker – this applies to this match only
• At the beginning of each match with a new opponent, the choice selected will be used to start each game within the match. ​
• Teams will change court ends during each game when the first team gets 8 points in a game to 15 or 11 in a game to 21.
• Each team is allowed two one-minute time-outs in a game to 15 or three time-outs in a game to 21.

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At Qualifiers, teams will not be ranked or pre-seeded for Pool Play. Pools will be determined at random due to insufficient and trusted college competition data. Teams emerging from Pool Play will be seeded in the Playoffs based on total wins and point differential.

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