Ultiworld’s 2025 Block Of The Year Bracket (Round 1)

Round 1 to decide the 2025 Block of the Year!

February 13, 2026 by Ultiworld in Awards, Opinion

Ultiworld’s 2025 Block of the Year bracket is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.

One of our most popular series to begin each year, it’s time to look back at last year and let our readers decide some of the top plays of 2025. We narrowed and seeded the final sixteen (eight from MMP and eight from WMP) in our Subscriber Selection. Now it’s time for the wider public to decide which play is the best of the best.

Round 1 starts now and closes on Monday, February 16th at noon Eastern!

Woman-Matching Players

Matchup 1: Cárdenas vs. Prucha

Manuela Cárdenas – Denver Molly Brown (USAU Club)

Manuela Cárdenas

Is it a legacy nod? Hardly. Manu is just like that. Every year it feels like she gets in this bracket, and are you ever surprised? This is another signature sprawling smack of a block for a player whose made a career out of making crazy plays a part of her routine.

Austin Prucha – Madison Bitter (Grand Masters Club)

Austin Prucha

Prucha built a great reputation as a tremendous defender, including a DPOTY Club Women’s div. podium appearance. She shows both the smarts to know when to gamble with a poach and the athleticism to get off her feet and to the disc on this flying block.

Matchup 2: Yap vs. Berg

Violet Yap – California Current (USAU YCC)

Violet Yap

A common piece of advice given to new or young players: run through the disc. And perhaps Violet Yap could be the boogie man that will take your disc should you forget. She sticks her hand in the cookie jar and comes away with the goods.

Presten Berg – Lewis & Clark (USAU College)

Presten Berg

Why defend one player when you can cover two? Presten Berg pulled double duty with this layout poach block. And check the score: trailing 12-10 in a game to 13 at Nationals? That’s bringing it when the team needs it.

Matchup 3: Hyland vs. Nelson

Kelly Hyland – Boston Brute Squad (USAU Club)

Kelly Hyland

Hyland landed 2 blocks in the top 8. Talk about a strong year for the club champion. For this entry at the National Championships, Hyland runs down the block, exploding from feet back to secure the momentum shifting takeaway in one of the biggest games of the year.

Mari Nielsen – Team Canada (WFDF U24)

Mari Nielsen

Nielsen is quickly becoming known for her flying antics and this block at the U24 World Championships only helped built her resume. With the stall count climbing, Nielsen sat up in her chair, locked in, and clutched up.

Matchup 4: Hyland vs. Wang

Kelly Hyland – Boston Brute Squad (USAU Club)

Kelly Hyland

There’s a rare class of defender who, when the throw goes up, can be 5 steps behind and still have a teammate on the sideline say “Oh, that’s theirs.” Meet Kelly Hyland and peep the recovery into the sick layout block.

Jackie Wang – Washington DC Scandal (USAU Club)

Jackie Wang

Let’s be real: catching your blocks is wildly cool. It is often advantageous, but even when it isn’t, it looks really good. Jackie Wang makes sure with this interception, a wide-ranging takeaway that pounces on a slow throw with viciousness.

Man-Matching Players

Matchup 1: Freechild vs. Burnett

Dylan Freechild – Team USA (World Games)

Dylan Freechild

On universe point, facing a tournament-altering upset, having just recently turned it, Dylan Freechild came up with the type of iconic play he’s known for. He shuts the window with the help block so quickly it is hard to blame the thrower for putting it up.

Justin Burnett – Team USA (WFDF U24)

Justin Burnett

This is the type of block that can be demoralizing for the opponent. Burnett shuts down what looks like a well-placed touchy thrower with an explosive layout that had everyone shaking their heads.

Matchup 2: Ritthaler vs. Cable

Daniel Ritthaler – San Francisco Revolver (USAU Club)

Daniel Ritthaler

Ritthaler made a name for himself as one of the Club men’s division’s best defenders this season and this block sealed his candidacy. Known more for playing handler defense, Ritthaler showed he could make a big play downfield, too.

Orion Cable – Boston DiG (USAU Club)

Orion Cable

Against most bodies, this type of maneuver might work — you might be able to bend your cut to eat up yards and gain more separation. But with the massive Orion Cable in the area? The physics just aren’t the same.

Matchup 3: Raunig vs. Decraene

Zeppelin Raunig – Seattle Mixtape (USAU Club)

Zeppelin Raunig

Game, set, match on the biggest upset of the club season. Once you know the context, it speaks for itself.

Tobe Decraene – Boston DiG (USAU Club)

Tobe Decraene

The devil is in the details of this one. Decraene’s layout block is solid on its face. But once you take a closer look, see how far he had to reach around the cutter to force this turnover, that’s when you see it is special.

Matchup 4: Coolman vs. Ambrose

Noah Coolman – Denver Johnny Bravo (USAU Club)

Noah Coolman

Coolman demonstrates incredible athleticism for the superman style flying catch block at Club Nationals. This sparked debate from viewers but ultimately no foul was called and the offensive player rejected the yellow card that was issued.

Lukas Ambrose – Portland Rhino Slam! (USAU Club)

Lukas Ambrose

This is the type of block that might make you do a double-take. Wasn’t he behind that guy? All of a sudden, Ambrose warps around the cutter with some sort of flash step jutsu and swipes down a block.