Whether layout blocks or shutdown defense, these players made life miserable for opposing offenses
November 19, 2025 by Alex Rubin, Laura Osterlund and Josh Katz in Awards
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards, starting with the First Team All-Club in each division. While we consider both regular season and postseason performance, because of the nature of the Club division, we weight success in the Series and at Nationals above all else. The Club Awards are voted on by Ultiworld reporters, contributors, and editors.
Our awards continue with the Man-Matching and Woman-Matching Defensive Players of the Year, recognizing the players who we felt were the top defensive performers this club season. For the first time, Ultiworld’s Offensive, Defensive, and Breakout Player of the Year awards in the mixed division are presented by gender matchup. Our first and second team all club have always featured an equal number of woman-matching and man-matching players, and this change now comes to our award podiums to reflect the most unique aspect of the mixed division. Whether through generating blocks, shutting down options, helping out teammates, or all of the above, these defenders stood out doing the tough work that too often go unrecognized.
Player of the Year Award
All-Club First Team
All-Club Second Team
Offensive Player of the Year Award
Defensive Player of the Year Award
Breakout Player of the Year Award
Coach(es) of the Year Award
Club Awards Voting Breakdown
Snubs and Superlatives
2025 Man-Matching Mixed Division Defensive Player of the Year
Ben Lewis (Hybrid)
A key addition to the best defensive team in the division, Ben Lewis turned heads this season for his high-flying defensive play. It is difficult to pick out the best players on a star-studded team that romped its way through the division on the way to a title, but Lewis stood out with 10 recorded blocks at Nationals and countless more defensive pressures that resulted in looked-off throws or offensive mistakes. As opposing offenses avoided throwing near his teammate and four-time DPOTYium placer Nathan Champoux, Lewis benefitted from putting himself in the right place at the right time to not only get blocks, but to influence the game from the defensive side of the disc.
It can be difficult to acclimate to a new team, especially one based 1200 miles away from home, and even more so one that runs one of the most complex defensive schemes in the mixed division. And yet, Lewis made an impact in his first year playing for the champs despite playing on a team loaded with defensive talent. Whether shutting down his matchup in person-oriented sets, or prowling open space hunting for a block in defensive sets with zone principles, Lewis was able to effectively limit opponents and generate the kind of pressure that generated break opportunities for Hybrid at an incredibly high clip. With talks of a three-peat percolating from southern Michigan down to Texas, players like Lewis will be indispensable for Hybrid to continue dominating teams defensively like they did in 2025.
– Alex Rubin
Runner-up
Nathan Champoux (Hybrid)
When asked at US Open about their offensive efficiency, Hybrid chalked it all up to having to practice against their D-line, as it proved one of the toughest to play against in the mixed division this season. One of the most consistent drivers of this strong Hybrid defense was Nathan Champoux. Long known for getting blocks, Champoux would bait his opponents to throw schmeat and subsequently pick off the disc if it got even close to his vicinity, thanks to top-of-the-division closing speed.
With the on-field energy gained from his blocks, they would often result in scoring a Hybrid break. And while Champoux’s defensive stats line might seem less impressive than his years past, his lockdown defense more than makes up for it. He always took one of the toughest matchups on the field and caused them to struggle and make less of an impact. With his knowledge of when to poach and his understanding of where the disc will go, Champoux not only guarded players but also successfully took away as much space as he could, often pinning offenses to a single third of the field. As he doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon, and with a trip to WUCC secured, signs point to Champoux continuing to be a defensive menace on some of the sports biggest stages.
– Laura Osterlund
2025 Woman-Matching Mixed Division Defensive Player of the Year
Blaise Sevier (shame.)
An underrated addition to a stacked shame. team, Blaise Sevier made her mark with her reentry to the mixed division, recording seven blocks at Nationals (leading all WMPs) and countless more defensive pressures that forced offenses into backup plans. Sevier has a penchant for knowing when to use her athleticism and quick-thinking to contain the offense and force her matchup away from valuable space and when to press her advantage and spring for a block attempt. While other players might be athletic enough to accomplish some of what Sevier does on the field, her intelligence and sense of time and space amidst 13 other moving parts sets her apart from the rest.
shame. relied on Sevier to limit opponents’ best options, and she played her best in the biggest moments. Six of her seven blocks1 came in the bracket or shame.’s showcase pool play win over Drag’n Thrust.2 As other teams figured out that they might want to avoid throwing to Sevier’s matchup, she was able to effectively limit the other team’s preferred open space and still managed to make life difficult for opponents. shame. was Sevier’s fourth team in as many years, and she has been excellent at every stop along the way. With their title window still open and a bid to WUCC next season, shame. will hope to keep Sevier around. With even more room to improve as she enters the traditional prime playing years, she’ll be an important player on whichever team she plays for next year.
– Alex Rubin
Runner-up
Wilhelmina Graff (Sprocket)
Wilhelmina Graff put together one of the quietest DPOTY-caliber seasons we’ve seen in the club division. Honestly, the best way to describe her season is that she was barely noticeable on first watch of Sprocket. She didn’t rack up the gigantic block numbers we’ve become accustomed to for players on the DPOTYium (she’s credited with just one at Nationals) because she barely had the opportunity to get them. Put on a Sprocket game from this year, and you can probably count on one hand the number of times her matchup was even targeted. When Graff took the field, she simply erased her mark from playing and turned the game into 6v6. Barely noticeable, until you realize there’s someone on the opposing offense that was also barely noticeable. That’s when you realize how good Mina Graff is.
– Josh Katz
