- Utah Tech 1 beat FAU 1 3-2 in the final of the 2026 College World Championship in Farmers Branch, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 1, winning both mixed matches and the DreamBreaker after losing the first two. It is the Trailblazers' second straight world title.
- This story sits inside Utah's pickleball lane and connects to the larger statewide sports picture.
- The story is backed by 8 sources and a visible last-verified date.
November 2, 2026
November 2, 2026
5 min / 1,105 words
8 official links
Utah Tech is the college pickleball world champion again. Utah Tech 1 beat FAU 1 3-2 in the final of the 2026 College World Championship at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 1, and did it the hard way: down two matches to none, the Trailblazers won both mixed doubles matches and then the DreamBreaker that decided the title.
"BACK TO BACK YEARS!" the College Pickleball Tour wrote when it announced the result, calling the win "an absolutely HUGE comeback." According to the tour, Utah Tech was down 11-20 at one point and came back to win the entire thing. A second tour post traced "the progression from being down 13-20" to the championship.
The four Trailblazers in the championship photo are Ella Boydston, Clayton Boydston, Liam Duffin and Lauren Mercado, the same four Utah Tech players named in both of the program's spring finals. The tour's championship post was published with Utah Tech Pickleball, Clayton Boydston, Liam Duffin, Lauren Mercado and Ella Boydston as collaborators.
How did Utah Tech win the 2026 College World Championship?
The College World Championship is a team event in which each school fields two women and two men, all full-time students at that university, according to DUPR's preview of the event. Team group play ran on Saturday, Oct. 31, and the elimination bracket on Sunday, Nov. 1, per the official tournament listing, which shows 258 players registered for the three days.
Thirty-two teams reached Sunday's Round of 32. FAU and Virginia led the bracket with three teams each, DUPR reported after group play, and Utah Tech entered it as the defending champion.
The final went to the last possible game. The tour's championship graphic reads "Utah Tech 1 def. FAU 1, 3-2" with the line "Down 0-2 · Won it in the DreamBreaker." After FAU took the first two matches, Utah Tech won both mixed doubles matches to level the final at 2-2, then won the DreamBreaker to repeat as champions.
Why does the FAU win mean so much for Utah Tech?
FAU had beaten Utah Tech in both of the biggest college finals of spring 2026.
In March, Florida Atlantic won the APP Selkirk U.S. Collegiate Championships in Cape Coral, Fla., 3-1 over Utah Tech. Utah Tech won the women's doubles 15-9, and FAU took the men's doubles 17-15 and both mixed doubles games, the deciding one 15-11, according to the APP.
In April, the two programs met again in the final of the College Pickleball Tour Nationals, the fifth edition of the event, at Life Time Peachtree Corners near Atlanta. DUPR counted 112 teams from 64 schools there and called the final "neck and neck." FAU won the women's doubles 21-19 and the men's doubles 22-20, Utah Tech took the first mixed doubles 21-19, and FAU closed it out 21-11 in the second.
Sunday flipped that script. In both spring finals, the mixed doubles games went FAU's way at the end. In Farmers Branch, the mixed doubles games went to Utah Tech, and so did the title.
What did Utah Tech win on opening day?
The Trailblazers swept the mixed doubles open podium on Friday, Oct. 30, before team play began. Ella and Clayton Boydston won gold, beating teammates Abigail Okelley and Hunter Merritt 11-8, 12-10, with the second game going to overtime. Mercado and Duffin took bronze, 11-2, 11-2 over Bella Basham and Peyton Pogach.
Duffin also won the men's singles open title, beating Wisconsin's Noah Hlavac 11-6, 11-5, and Merritt won bronze after dropping his first game 8-11 to Alex Serwatka, then taking the next two 11-2, 11-3. That gave Utah Tech six individual medalists before the team event started.
"Winning any tournament always feels good but winning the mixed world title is super exciting," Clayton Boydston told DUPR. Duffin said, "Winning the college world singles title was an amazing feeling," and Boydston summed up the weekend's stage: "Clearly the best event to play and be at."
Is this Utah Tech's second College World Championship?
Yes. Utah Tech won the inaugural College World Championship in Dallas in November 2025, going undefeated and beating Team India 3-1 in the final, according to DUPR and St. George News. Sunday's win makes the Trailblazers the only champions the event has had.
The program is still young. Students started it in 2021 as a social club, and by 2022 it was competing nationally and finished second at the first Pickleball National Championship, St. George News reported in September. Head coach Chloee Butterfield and co-coach Melinda Wilkins joined in 2024, and the university designates pickleball an Extramural Varsity Sport.
According to Butterfield, Utah Tech became the first university in the country to offer scholarship support specifically for collegiate pickleball athletes in 2023, made possible by a local donor. "We knew we had something special in the athletes and the culture we were building," Butterfield said.
Duffin, a team captain who came to pickleball from tennis, said it plainly in September: "I'm surprised, but at the same time, we put in the work to be where we're at."
Is college pickleball an NCAA sport?
No. The College World Championship is an official event of the College Pickleball Tour, with JOOLA as title sponsor, not an NCAA championship. Utah Tech's team competes as an extramural varsity program, and DUPR says the event carries the largest prize purse of the fall collegiate season.
The tour's fall schedule continues with regional events into December, according to DUPR, and the spring brings the national championships where FAU beat Utah Tech twice this year. This time, the last word in the rivalry belonged to the Trailblazers.
Key facts:
- Event: 2026 College World Championship, an official College Pickleball Tour event, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, Brookhaven Country Club, Farmers Branch, Texas
- Final: Utah Tech 1 def. FAU 1, 3-2, on Sunday, Nov. 1; Utah Tech trailed 0-2, won both mixed doubles matches and the DreamBreaker
- Comeback: Utah Tech was down 11-20 at one point, according to the College Pickleball Tour
- Champions pictured: Ella Boydston, Clayton Boydston, Liam Duffin, Lauren Mercado
- Titles: back-to-back College World Championships (2025 in Dallas, 3-1 over Team India; 2026 in Farmers Branch)
- Rival: FAU beat Utah Tech in the March 2026 APP Selkirk U.S. Collegiate final (3-1) and the April 2026 College Pickleball Tour Nationals final
- Opening day: Utah Tech swept the mixed doubles open podium (Boydstons gold, Okelley and Merritt silver, Mercado and Duffin bronze); Duffin won men's singles gold and Merritt bronze
- Field: 258 players registered; 32 teams in Sunday's Round of 32
- Program: founded by students in 2021; Extramural Varsity Sport; head coach Chloee Butterfield, co-coach Melinda Wilkins
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