Unafraid, two confident teams: reigning champions Hybrid and Polar Bears, making the final for the first time since 2013, faced off, both playing their own game.
November 4, 2026 by Laura Osterlund in Recap
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 club ultimate season 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.
SAN DIEGO – A new program dynasty has been officially cemented. In their 15-13 final victory over San Francisco Polar Bears, Ann Arbor Hybrid completed the three-peat, as well as the elusive double-peak (USAU National and WUCC titles) at the same time. The only other time a mixed team got the three-peat was Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust in 2013-15. Likewise, both teams also won a WUCC title during their reign (Drag’n won in 2014).
Fully Charged and Unshakeable
“Every practice, we focused on giving our best to our teammates, to help our teammates play at our best,” said Hybrid’s Rachel Mast. “At practices, we had very hard competition. I think what helped us double-peak was the constant pressure we had in practices and the focus and the intentionality and intensity.”
At the beginning of their 2024 season, not many would have predicted Hybrid’s major successes. In the past three years, Hybrid haven’t done anything groundbreaking to rise to the top of the division, no flashy mega-star additions, no newly developed strategies. Instead, they’ve spent time growing as a team and perfecting their game. Now, they know how to play their own game in any situation, are confident that it will work, even when down, and can execute no matter the personnel — for example, when Dalton Smith (one of their best players this season) got injured in the semifinal, they did not bat an eye when figuring out how to fill his shoes for the final. They did so with their depth, something built by chemistry.
“We had pretty much the same offensive unit: we had a five MMP rotation, so with Dalton down, it just goes down to the four-MMP rotation,” Jon Mast said after the semifinal, in which Smith missed the second half. “And that’s pretty much it.”
“We moved Chase Cunningham over, and he fit in nicely. They are different players, but I think we were able to adapt,” Rachel Mast said after the final.
Despite their questionable starts to their years, Hybrid floated above every other team throughout a majority of the season. Their US Open win and Pro Champs final appearance were both never in doubt. Hybrid move down the field as a unit rather than as talented individuals who happen to be on a team together.
Entering the final as the underdogs, fresh off a major semifinal upset against New York XIST, Polar Bears came out confident in their game. A deep look to Zalk was well defended by Eileen Bequette, and Hybrid were forced to work the disc out of their own end zone. Being forced to make a lot of throws paid off for Polar Bears, as Hybrid turned and Vincenzo Vitiello got the first hold of the game to claim the first lead.
Not sweating, Hybrid passed on their first deep look on their opening O-point, then sent a shot to Abe Coffin for a clean hold before capitalizing off of an interception by Jeff Weis on a crafty centering pass to grant them their first break of the game and a 2-1 lead.
Yet, Polar Bears, too, kept their wits about them as Chagall Gelfand quarterbacked them into a well-executed clean hold. They did not wait long to get their licks back, as Byron Liu interrupted an early Hybrid swing and broke to keep the game on-serve. After two clean holds apiece, Lexi Zalk miscued a reset pass around half-field, and Lili Hobday, Jeff Weis, and Nathan Champoux dominated the point, hitting Sara Nitz to break at 5-4. However, Chagall Gelfand brushed it off her shoulders and demonstrated the trust she had in her teammates; on the following point, she sent a huck to Matthew Crawford, who exploded from the handler set to the end zone for a goal.
Several turns from Hybrid gave Polar Bears more break chances in one point, but their D-line offense’s first turns of the game squandered those chances. Hybrid’s defense was simply too strong — their players knew how to get the disc back. That dirty Hybrid hold was followed by more clean ones.
In the point that would tie the game at 7-7, the matchup between Hybrid’s Eileen Bequette and Polar Bears’ Zalk led to fireworks, leading to blocks and shut-down defense. Both of these players have been welcome additions for their respective teams. Both players filled the role of deep threats who made plays and served as release valves when needed. Thanks to Zalk’s defense, Magsig secured the hold to bring the game to a pivotal “Galaxy point.” A short-field drop from reigning 2025 POTY Rachel Mast gave Polar Bears the chance to keep the game on serve. With a Magsig flip to Sarah Combs, this Californian outlet took the game to half.
One thing that helped Hybrid get the breaks they needed was the consistent rolling pulls they had all weekend, especially from Annalise Meilink on the majority-WMP points. Every one of her pulls rolled to the downwind low sideline, adding challenges to the swings and making sure their opponents did not feel too comfortable in their initial looks. The Michiganders also created pressure downfield and refused to let their opposition get throws to their first under cuts.
On the flip side, their offense continued to easily get open and find the spaces to go to. Their women-matching players have an edge over most teams in the division; it’s almost impossible to shut them down. With their depth, even the players who aren’t the biggest threats (Rachel Mast, Maketa Mattimore) have no problem getting open on strong defenders, as they demonstrated this several times. They know their depth, too, as they play with confidence in their teammates.
“I’m so grateful for our depth,” said Rachel Mast. “It doesn’t feel like we have to play perfectly individually. And I love that. Because then we have the depth, there’s not pressure on any one person, and being able to play through the depth of our team takes the pressure off and allows us to play more freely. It’s such a beautiful thing. I’m feeling super grateful for the selflessness that comes with being on a team sport and giving the space. Anyone could take the active space, but we tried to do it in a way that the full team can work evenly. It’s super great.”
In most games that Hybrid have played, halftime would be the point where they start to pull away. Normally, most teams they’ve played against have tried to adjust, resulting in a less stable-looking offense, putting Hybrid even more in the driver’s seat. Even in games like this one, where they did not have a lead, the juggernauts have had no reason to sweat it, as they have the confidence that they’ll pull it out. However, Polar Bears proved over the course of the weekend that they are not like most other teams. They remained comfortable playing their own game and stayed on course to make sure they still had a fighting chance to both stay in the game and potentially upset a lot of fantasy brackets. And they stuck to their systems and processes. More importantly, they did not cede the upper hand or pacing. Neither team had full control of the game at any point; it was truly anyone’s to win until the end.
“This Hybrid team is an incredible squad, but we have shown an immense amount of composure throughout this game, throughout this tournament, and it’s really nice to be able to fall back on our systems and the trust that we have for ourselves,” said Polar Bears captain Juleon Robinson in the halftime on-stream interview. “We talk about being in the moment, and we really are; just being in our bodies, doing things we know how to do, playing with joy and playing with our friends. And it turns out, that makes for good ultimate.”
As they entered the second half, Hybrid held; and in the point that followed, Charlie Vukovic laid out to get his hand on a deep shot from Magsig, Hobday and Weis again went every-other, and Zalk once again got a block on Bequette. But with Nathan Champoux on the line, you better watch out, as he baited a classic clean “Skunk” layout block to secure Hybrid’s break that gave them the lead at 9-8, and this time they never trailed again.
“They took half, it doesn’t feel good, but I feel like at the same time, we weren’t losing our confidence at all. Because we know that we trust in our systems and that we are continuously applying the pressure,” Rachel Mast said. “We know that we gotta keep fighting, and we know that all of that will pay off.”
And it did.
On a point that started with Meilink’s best roller pull yet, the teams traded turns: a deep shot to Chang was broken up by a poaching Riley Kuznicki, Saul Wildasky got an immediate foot block on the Polar Bears goal line, and a quick bump to Zalk finally produced the goal. After a hold produced by a head-tapping, skying grab by Jared Schwalie, Hobday’s mark foiled Margo Stert’s attempt to move the disc up the line and collected the bookends on a long strike cut to gain a bit more of a cushion for Hybrid at 11-9.
Still not shaken, Polar Bears held on and managed to keep the game within one or two points, with credit to Gelfand’s poise, maturity, and ingenuity with the disc as she opened up the field every time she touched the disc. But as they got comfortable, Hybrid’s too-easy-looking, cohesive movements down the field made it close to impossible to get a block or force a turn. And then, just when Polar Bears needed it most (as they trailed 13-12), Hybrid let off an errant throw; Polar Bears worked down the field, and Lexi Zalk (who crossed over from the O-line) ran deep and caught the goal to tie the game up at 13-13.
Still not shaken, Hybrid got their hold on a huck from Abe Coffin to Chase Cunningham to get them one point away from a third National Championship. Perhaps it was the pressure of needing to score to stay in the game combined with their lack of big-game experience in recent years, as Polar Bears got to their red zone only to throw right into Kai Creed. As if to keep things interesting, Hybrid dropped a pass outside their own end zone; Bequette got it back with a well-positioned block, and Hobday found Stanley Peterson to end the game at 15-13.
Try-Hards Triumph
Program history wasn’t just made by Hybrid in this final. With their bracket run, Polar Bears made it to the final for the first time since 2013. Coincidentally, in this final appearance, they lost to Drag’n Thrust at the genesis of their own three-peat. This season was a renaissance for the California team, as the once-WUCC silver medalists (2014) hadn’t seen the Nationals stage since 2022. With this in mind, their meteoric rise to the final, where a majority of their players lacked big-game experience in the club field, becomes that much more impressive. In their offseason, advertising the team as “try-hards,” they gained the talents of players such as Chagall Gelfand, Noah Fong, Lexi Zalk, Evan Magsig, Itay Chang, Sarah Combs, and Byron Liu, all of whom elevated the ceiling of their depth immensely.
“One of the things that’s really special about our team is we’ve been able to lean on our depth,” said Polar Bears captain Courtney Greenley. “Everyone got us here; everyone had a job and part of what we adjusted in this Hybrid game from first half to second half is that ‘you just need to do your job and be responsible for your role out there.’
“We just kept telling everyone to do the next right thing,” she continued, talking about the big wins that got them through the bracket. “Be in the moment, do the next right thing, and continue to believe. Those were our three tenets of this entire tournament. And I think that just got us through some moments where we kept calm and steady. I think we’re not following the emotional roller coaster … I feel like out here, a lot of the emotions are amplified and we were able to just keep it together with each other. And that was really special. The moments are fleeting.”
Looking ahead, Polar Bears’ future shows promise. Any final appearance becomes a major bargaining chip, especially in a place with the talent of the Bay Area. With the experience they will gain from getting invited to higher-level tournaments, and if they retain key parts of their roster, the future looks promising for the silver medalists.
“Everyone was just so proud of each other and of what we did together as a program. Both from just rebuilding over the last few years and into coming together, leaning on each other, and our goals for this tournament. And we just met them to a ‘T,’ and it just felt like we really put it all out there for each other,” said Greenley.
Going from being on the outside looking in (in terms of being at Nationals) to making it all the way through the bracket can be seen by many as as big an accomplishment as Hybrid’s double-peak (ok, maybe not, but it’s still cool)1.
“I can only imagine the offseason … it left this feeling of everyone wants it more now,” Greenley said. “… I’m so excited to see in the offseason how everyone chases that.”
The End of the Chapter
All good things must come to an end, and it seems the end of Hybrid’s era will come just as quickly as it began. Between players retiring and moving, uncertainty follows this season for Hybrid. A three-peat and double-peak are both remarkable, something that they can be proud of. Hell, they basically have a lifetime supply of discs from all of the Discraft vouchers they’ve gotten from each of their TCT tournament wins. But eventually the reign has to end and open the door for new challengers.
“I think we all feel satisfied with, this was a big goal of ours, and we’re grateful that we were able to finish it and make history. It is a cool thing to achieve. Looking forward, it’ll be rebuilding and not sure what it’ll look like, but it’ll be a new challenge. And we’ll be an underdog, which will be fun,” Rachel Mast said. “We don’t want to be at the top for too long. We gotta have new champions.”
Next season, perhaps the top-to-bottom parity will return, making it once again anybody’s game (and championship) to win.
Fun fact: the last team to make the final after not qualifying for Nationals the previous cycle: Hybrid in 2021. ↩
