The Preseason Qualifiers will go from 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM at Club Pickleball USA in Orem on the following dates:

• PSQ Week 1: Monday, February 17
• PSQ Week 2: Monday, February 24
• PSQ Week 3: Monday, March 3
• PSQ Week 4: Monday, March 10

Players will choose their own teams and sign-up together to compete. To allow for more balanced and competitive matchups, the Season 5 Team Doubles DUPR Cap is 21.500 — each team cannot have a combined Doubles DUPR higher than 21.500 at the time of team registration. There is no limit to what each individual player’s Doubles DUPR can be, but as a team, the combined Doubles DUPR cannot exceed 21.500 (see Q&A for examples). 

You will submit a screenshot of each player’s Doubles DUPR at registration, at which point your Team Doubles DUPR is locked in. This means that even if an individual player’s DUPR changes at any point during the season, your Team Doubles DUPR will not be affected. 

In the four weeks of preseason play, teams will compete to earn Preseason Qualifier Points (PQP) in a round-robin style tournament*. PQP will be earned from both games won and points scored, as follows:

Games won:

• One game won = 1 PQP
• Two games won = 3 PQP
• Three games won = 6 PQP
• Four games won = 10 PQP

Points scored: 

• 0 – 7 points scored = 0 PQP
• 8 – 14 points scored = 1 PQP
• 15+ points scored = 2 PQP

Each night, teams will play matches against others in their pool. Each match will consist of two gender doubles games and two mixed doubles games. There will be NO singles tiebreakers in the Preseason Qualifier. A max of 18 PQP can be earned for each match. 

Each night of the Preseason will be composed of two rounds. At the end of the first round, the bottom half of teams (based on PQP earned that night only) will be eliminated from that week’s competition, and the top half will continue into the second round of play. At the end of the night, the top two teams with the most PQP accumulated that night only will secure a guaranteed spot in the Regular Season. 

Being eliminated from one week does not mean that you are eliminated from the entire Preseason Qualifier. Come back the next week to compete again for your place in the Regular Season! Once your team secures a spot in the Regular Season, you will not compete again in the Preseason Qualifier, as you have already qualified—we will see you in the Regular Season! 

At the end of the Preseason Qualifier, eight teams will have secured their place in the Regular Season. To the four teams who won’t make it to the Regular Season: thank you for being a wonderful part of Season 5! We hope to see you next season!

Players who are not members of Club Pickleball USA in Orem will need to pay a Club guest fee.

*League rules are subject to change depending on the number of teams that sign-up. 

SUNDANCE LEAGUE RULES

Rule clarifications

• Games are played to 21, win by two, and you can only win on your serve.
• Let serves are NOT replayed, meaning that if a serve hits the net and lands within the correct service box, players should continue to play the point as normal.
• Teammates are encouraged to cheer for their team, however, no coaching/helping can be made DURING the point. You may coach/help in between points (as long as it doesn’t interfere with the flow of play).
• Out calls must be made by the players on the court who are on the side of the ball. If no call is made by those players, they can defer to their teammates who can help them with the call. However, if one of those players on the court makes a call, then that call must stand and they can no longer defer to their teammates. Please play with sportsmanship and honesty!

Substitution Rules

Team Captains must submit their substitute’s Doubles DUPR (in the form of a screenshot) to Sundance League Officials before they play. The sub’s individual Doubles DUPR must not cause the Team Doubles DUPR for whom they are playing to exceed 21.500. 

Any teams found breaking this rule will forfeit the game(s) in which that substitute player is found playing. Men can only sub for men and women can only sub for women. 

To preserve the integrity of the league and acquisition of PQP, no more than two substitutes (one men’s sub and one women’s sub) are allowed at any time. If your team will require more than two substitutes at any time, a game played by the third and/or fourth substitute will be forfeited. (Ex: If you have two men’s subs and one women’s sub, you must choose one doubles game in which a man is playing to forfeit). 

As the Sundance League is a team league, we do recognize that these substitution rules discourage the use of subs. However, we feel that they do not overly penalize a team who does need to use one. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we try to make a league that is fair for all participants!

Sundance League Official Ball

Starting in Season 5, we will use Vulcan VPRO FLIGHT Gen 2 pickleballs in both Preseason and Regular Season games.

Q&A

What’s new in Season 5?

• Team DUPR Cap: 21.500
• Registration Fee: $500 per team ($125 per player)
• Official League Ball: Vulcan VPRO FLIGHT Gen 2
• YouTube Live Stream every week (and Selkirk TV when available) on Court 1

What is an example of how the Team Doubles DUPR Cap works?

When adding together the Doubles DUPR of each individual on the team, the total Doubles DUPR score must not exceed 21.500. Here is an example of a team that can compete:

• Player 1 = 6.5
• Player 2 = 4.5
• Player 3 = 5.0
• Player 4 = 5.5
• Total Team Doubles DUPR = 21.500

Here is an example of a team that cannot compete:

• Player 1 = 6.5
• Player 2 = 5.0
• Player 3 = 5.0
• Player 4 = 5.23
• Total team DUPR = 21.730

What if my Team Doubles DUPR totals to 21.501?

Sorry! Your Team Doubles DUPR can total exactly 21.500, but it cannot go over (not even by a little bit!). 

Why is Sundance League keeping the Team Doubles DUPR Cap for Season 5?

The purpose of the Sundance League is to provide a high quality experience for amateur players in and around Utah Valley. With this goal in mind, the Team Doubles DUPR cap was introduced with the hopes that it would encourage more players to feel like they have a chance to compete, ramping up the competition for everyone!

What is different between Sundance League and MLP?

As Sundance League continues to mature each season, we are fine-tuning the details of the league and are moving away from matching the continuous updates from MLP. We may still make adjustments each season to ensure the league is a fun and rewarding experience for everyone, but (especially in light of the 2025 MLP updates to side-out scoring and 6-player rosters), we will not be following MLP changes like we have in the past. 

*All disputes and rulings are ultimately settled by the Governing Board of the League.