New England’s college pickleball scene just got its biggest stage yet. Over September 26–27, more than 20 college programs and roughly 300 athletes packed RT.12 Pickle in West Boylston for the first-ever NCPA collegiate regional held in Massachusetts — the second stop on the 2026 NCPA Tour. Historic rain and flood warnings hammered the state all weekend, but the action stayed dry inside the nine-court facility, and when it was over, Harvard had cut down the nets.
An all–New England final four
The bracket delivered a clean sweep for the region. All four semifinalists were New England programs — Harvard (Cambridge, MA), UConn (Storrs, CT), Tufts (Medford, MA) and Boston University (Boston, MA) — and each one locked up a Division 1 bid to the NCPA National Championship.
- Semifinal: Harvard outlasted Boston University in a seven-game, sudden-death thriller.
- Semifinal: UConn defeated Tufts to reach the final.
- Final: Harvard beat UConn — clinching it in a sudden-death tiebreaker to take the regional title and the top share of the $5,000 purse.
How they got there
Each NCPA regional awards 12 bids to Nationals (four each to D1, D2 and D3), decided in a best-of-7 team format that stacks gender doubles, mixed doubles and singles — with a rapid-fire “sudden death” tiebreaker if a match goes the distance. On the road to the final, Harvard came through Tufts’ second team, Syracuse and Boston University, while UConn advanced past MIT, Vermont (UVM) and Tufts. WPI’s second team reached the quarterfinals before falling to Tufts.
Names to know
- Katie Murphy (Harvard) — a junior who represented Team USA at a collegiate event in Thailand over the summer — anchored the champions across singles and mixed doubles.
- Jonathan Yang (Harvard) gutted through an ankle and knee injury to play the final.
- Axel Morgan (Boston University), a freshman with a big backhand, pushed Harvard to seven games in the semifinals.
- Julia Rose (club president) and Ryan Moroni led UConn’s run to the championship match.
Why it matters for New England
This was the first NCPA regional ever staged in Massachusetts — a marker of how fast the college game is growing in the Northeast. The NCPA has gone from about 30 schools in 2023 to more than 150 competing in 2026, and New England is now firmly on the map. For the region’s programs, a D1 bid means a trip to the NCPA National Championship. We’ll be following every New England team through the season on our College Pickleball hub.
Results and player details via the official NCPA broadcast of the Massachusetts Regional. Event photos courtesy of the National Collegiate Pickleball Association.