Jack Munro, Mehvish Safdar Star at the DUPR Collegiate Individual National Championships

The DUPR Collegiate Individual National Championships (CINC) took place at The Pickle Lodge in Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend with bragging rights and scholarship money on the line.

The show was stolen by Jack Munro (University of Texas) and Mehvish Safdar (University of Indiana), both winning two gold medals and $2,000 in scholarships each.

Saturday started with mixed doubles, followed by men’s and women’s singles. The men’s and women’s doubles events took place Sunday morning while the afternoon held all of the semifinals and finals.

Over 30 different schools were represented at the second annual CINC.

Women’s Singles

With plenty of high-level competition, Mehvish Safdar really dominated the women’s singles field. Safdar didn’t lose a single game throughout the group play or the playoffs. The Hoosier beat Fiorella Bozzetto (Clemson) 21-12, 21-9 in the rally scoring finals. 

The Pakistani-American is a PhD student at the University of Indiana and had a great tennis career at the University of Minnesota. Look for her to continue her pickleball career after college, as she has some ELITE level passing shots that would quickly translate to the pro game.

Mehvish Safdar

Men’s Singles

The showdown of the Jacks! In our preview, we anticipated Jack Foster (University of Florida) and Jack Munro (University of Texas) playing singles against each other. The APP Tour Next Gen National teammates are both very good singles players. However, Munro struggled in group play and barely made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed.

Munro, coming off two men’s doubles golds on the APP Tour, was able to beat Foster and made it to the finals, winning four of his six games in the playoffs by just two points.

On the other side of the bracket, David Bieger (University of Virginia) didn’t have as much trouble, winning by an average of 13.2 points. 

In an extremely close match, Munro was able to win the finals, 21-19, 21-18, winning himself a singles championship.

Jack Munro

Mixed Doubles

This was by far the most entertaining event of the weekend.

Mehvish Safdar/Michael Asplund (University of Indiana) barely made it into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed, having lost to Utah Tech and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in group play. 

In the finals, Safdar and Asplund faced off against Lauralei Singsank and David Bieger (University of Virginia). UVA won the first game rather easily, 21-12. They were then up 20-12, with match point on the line. This is where the drama began.

With the rally scoring format and freeze on the serve, Safdar and Asplund mounted a crazy comeback, scoring eight unanswered points, eventually winning, 28-26. In the third and final game, Safdar and Asplund used their momentum from that second game and won, 11-8.

Michael Asplund and Mehvish Safdar

Women’s Doubles

The Utah Tech and University of Virginia women’s doubles rivalry seems to be a real thing. The two teams have had some really great matches over the past two years, each winning championships.

Averee Beck and Kamryn Bliss (Utah Tech University) played Alexandra McDonald and Laurelei Singsank (University of Virginia) in the finals. UTU won handily in the first game, but went down 15-19 in the second game before mounting a comeback. Beck and Bliss then went on a 7-1 streak, winning that second game, 22-20.

Averee Beck and Kamryn Bliss

Men’s Doubles

In a match involving the highest combined DUPR ratings, Jack Munro and Timmy Manzano (5.671 avg; University of Texas) barely squeaked out a win over Jack Foster and Django Chassang (5.391 avg; University of Florida) in the finals.

This also went three games, becoming the closest match throughout all of the finals. Munro and Manzano lost the first game, 18-21, before winning the second 27-25 and then 12-10 in the third. In that second game, Foster and Chassang had match point on their paddle at 21-20, but Foster missed the serve.

Jack Munro and Timmy Manzano