The top players from the College Pickleball Tour formed the College All-Star team this past weekend, and challenged professional MLP teams at the Mid-Season tournament in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This was the third MLP tournament with a College Pickleball Tour  All-Star team - the College All-Stars also played at the MLP Mid-Season tournament in 2025, as well as the Edward Jones MLP Cup at the 2025 Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships. The College All-Stars and the Florida Smash are developing a rivalry, as the teams have played in all three MLP tournaments when the college team was present.

‍First Match: College All-Stars vs. Utah Black Diamonds

In what proved to be the high water mark for the College All-Stars, they were able to take Men’s Doubles off the Utah Black Diamonds 11-9, forcing the match to play both mixed doubles. 

At the 2026 MLP Mid-Season tournaments, there were four total “supplementary” teams created to compete alongside all 20 MLP teams. These were the Australian, Canadian, European, and College teams. Of these four extra teams, the College All-Stars were the only ones to win a single game on the weekend. In total, these teams went 1-24 in games against MLP teams, with the one win coming from Ryan Morneau and Kallan Arledge topping Connor Garnett and Tama Shimabukuro in Men’s Doubles. Ryan and Kallan were up 7-1 at one point before closing it out 11-9.

Perhaps this is a future partnership in the making, with Ryan and Kallan now 2-1 overall when playing together:

• Won 24-22 (rally scoring) against Clayton Boydston and Liam Duffin at the East-West Game
• Won 11-9 against Garnett and Tama Shimabukuro from the Utah Black Diamonds
• Lost 7-11 against Christopher Crouch and Connor Mogle from the Florida Smash

For the best point of the match, check out this ATP defense from Ella Cosma.

‍Second Match: College All-Stars vs. Florida Smash

In the rivalry matchup, the College All-Stars weren’t able to take a game in the back draw, and exited the tournament losing 0-3 to their repeated foe. It was too little too late with a 11-13 showing in Mixed Doubles 1 that could have prolonged the match. 

College pickleball historians will note the presence of Christopher Crouch on the Florida Smash. Not only is he the 2nd best Men’s Doubles player in Australia, but he also represented the University of Florida at College Pickleball Tour events in 2023. Partnered with Django Chassang, they took Silver for Men’s Doubles at the 2023 College Individual National Championships. 

Christopher Crouch’s starting role on the Florida Smash shows that college pickleball can be a viable pathway to a professional pickleball career, especially with all of the rising talent that exists in college pickleball.

Want to learn more about college pickleball? Visit the College Pickleball Tour page to find events, teams, and rankings near you.