Minnesota State Mankato Men’s, Women’s Club Handball Teams Sweep National Team Championships
National titles are fifth in a row for Maverick Men, third in a row for Maverick women
Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato’s men’s and women’s handball teams each won national team championships, and the two teams also won the combined national championship at the 2026 United States Handball Association’s national collegiate handball tournament, held Feb. 18-22 in St. Louis, Missouri.
The Maverick men’s team scored 2,313 points in winning its fifth consecutive national title, followed by Texas A&M (2,144) and Missouri State (2,116). Scoring for the Mavericks were Mark Dayle, Bryan Trego, Zack Wells, Nathan Stoffel, Nick Kerins and Lucas Wells.
The Maverick women’s team scored 2,249 to win its third consecutive national title, topping second-place Missouri State (2,228) and third-place Texas A&M (2,153). Scoring for the Mavericks were Clodagh Munroe, Hannah Grace, Izzy Klicker, Molly Lund, Emma Wolff and Kayle Rollenhagen.
The top six players in each gender score toward the combined title. The final combined point total was 4,562 for Minnesota State Mankato, 4,344 for second-place Missouri State and 4,297 for third-place Texas A&M.
Competition brackets are available online.
Individual notes:
- Clodagh Munroe from the women’s team was open champion for the third year in a row, becoming the fourth woman to win three or more open single titles.
- From the men’s team, Mark Doyle won his second open singles title, and he also won the open doubles title with Bryan Trejo.
- Nick Kerins won the men’s A1 singles title, and Aaron Black finished runner-up in B2 singles.
- Katie Heller and Abby Strong won the women’s B doubles title. Hannah Grace and Munroe finished runner-up in the women’s open doubles division.
- Munroe, Grace, Doyle, Trejo and Zack Wells received All-America honors.
- Emma Wolff was the women’s most improved player at this year’s tournament.
- Also honored at the tournament banquet were seven Mavericks who received $2,500 Mardak scholarships from the United States Handball Association. Mardak scholarships are awarded to collegiate handball players who teach handball to youth and/or new college handball players.
- Katie Heller, Zack Wells, Clodagh Munroe, Mark Doyle, Hannah Grace, Abby Strong and Izzy Klicker were awarded Mardak scholarships for their involvement in MSU’s Handball 2 University program, where youth from MyPlace and the YWCA come on campus to play handball and do academic activities with a goal of seeing themselves as future college students. They were also teaching assistants for the Introduction to Handball courses and gave demonstrations to high school physical education classes.
- Izzy Klicker also received the Team Aware scholarship given to handball players who were affected by cancer either directly or through a loved one.
- The Mavericks graduate six seniors: Nick Kerins, Cole Peterson, Luke Vinar, Molly Lund, Clodagh Munroe and Emma Wolff.
For more information, contact Minnesota State Mankato handball coach Mike Wells by email at michael.wells@mnsu.edu.
The Minnesota State Mankato handball club is one of the sport clubs offered through Campus Recreation at Minnesota State Mankato.
The mission of Campus Recreation is to promote long-term healthy lifestyle behavior through participating in multi-faceted recreational, educational and leisure activities.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,721 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.
