Diamond Cup XIV Preview
PC: Ivy Clamons
Author: Whitney Ho
Introduction
After a short three week break, the Southwest Quadball division is back in action at Diamond Cup XIV this Saturday. Hosted by Texas State in San Marcos, TX, the Bobcats’ annual tournament is one of, if not the most, anticipated Southwest tournament of the season. All eyes will be on San Marcos this year as Texas State fights to reclaim the crown of their own tournament, but also because reigning USQ champion Creighton is making the trip down to Texas. Who will come out on top when Creighton and Texas State collide? How will UTSA and SHSU capitalize from their successes at Lone Star Cup last month? Can Texas and Texas A&M find their footing before the 2026 Garland National Qualifier? Tune into the collegiate edition of Diamond Cup XIV and find out.
Texas State
No. 3 Texas State had a tumultuous weekend at Lone Star Cup last month. The Bobcats went into the tournament expecting to easily beat all three teams and start their season undefeated. But to everyone’s surprise, they dropped their first game of the year against SHSU and were forced to decisively crush Texas and UTSA to narrowly scamper back to San Marcos with the crown. This weekend, they head into Diamond Cup XIV in a pool with Texas A&M and SHSU looking to reestablish their dominance over the Southwest.
Texas State’s roster contains no surprises — superstar veteran talent like Captain David Avila, Catherine Hay and Brandy Gomez, but also rising star Nate Targonski and rookie Andy Alexander. Alexander, who made a huge splash at Lone Star, scored four goals in his debut. Another notable name on the scoresheets in October was Izzy Ramirez, scoring six goals to help Texas State topple UTSA and Texas after the SHSU loss. The Texas State beaters also did well, with standout performances from Nate McCall and Kalie Newman. This weekend, expect a vengeful squad with something to prove — hungry for another match-up against SHSU and itching to play Creighton once more after their semi-final loss at Nationals 2025. How will Texas State mend their mistakes against SHSU? Will they finally topple Creighton? Only time will tell.
Since six teams will be attending their home tournament, not all match-ups are guaranteed. However, Texas State will get their rematch against SHSU and the opportunity to play Texas A&M for the first time since last year’s Diamond Cup. But if all goes to plan, Texas State will win out of their pool and secure the number one seed, crush Pool Two’s second seed and meet Creighton in the final to take back their home tournament’s title. Can they do it? This team has all the potential in the world, but after they were stunned by SHSU, the Bobcats will be playing with a different type of fire as they fight to regain their No. ranking and challenge Virginia for No. 1.
Creighton
The reigning USQ champions will return to San Marcos to play their first official games of the season. No. 2 Creighton finished last season undefeated, winning an exhilarating final against Virginia. Last year, they went to Diamond Cup XVIII and took care of business, defeating UTSA 155-70, Texas A&M 175-60 and Texas State 200-175. This time around, they’ll look to defend their titles — both their crown from Diamond Cup XVIII and their national championship.
Looking at their roster, Creighton has lost some key players, including Riley Usami, Madi Namanny and TJ O’Connor. But much of the 2025 Nationals squad is still kicking, including Ryan Cleary and Derek Dearking and new first-team players from Blue Jay. Creighton’s fundamentals are impeccable, built upon by well earned experience in a rapidly expanding program. But with their losses, many have called into question if Creighton is still the same threat that they were last year. However, Cleary has stepped up to the task, so the real question is how will he make this team his own? WIll Creighton start their title defense with a bang or slower than expected?
Creighton will begin their pool play against Texas and finish with UTSA, where they will look to win decisively and prepare for a semi-final match-up before meeting Texas State in the final to start their season off in similar fashion to last year’s: undefeated. The defending national champions are certainly ready to prove that they deserve the No. 1 ranking — after all, they won it all, and they’re hungry to win it again.
UTSA
After starting the season unranked, No. 7 UTSA showed up and showed out at Lone Star Cup last month and will head to Diamond Cup confident and ready to fight. The Roadrunners shook things up in Austin, upsetting then No. 7 Texas and No. 10 SHSU. They dropped their game against Texas State, but this weekend proved that they shouldn’t be counted out just yet.
Captain Javi Tijerina will return to lead this team through Diamond Cup XIV, supported by returners Dylan Farrow, Emme Gouveia and Terra Robinson. Farrow was certainly the star this weekend, scoring a whopping 21 goals across all three games as Tijerina controlled the beating game. Other notable performances include rookie Aden De La Rosa, who scored nine of UTSA’s goals from the weekend. But besides Farrow and De La Rosa, new players have yet to emerge decisively. What other weapons are UTSA hiding? With a 13-person roster, how will they fare later in the day against teams with deep rosters like Creighton and Texas State?
UTSA will go into Diamond Cup XVI hungry to get another game against Texas State and ready to take on Creighton, a team that they have an intense history with. Additionally, they’re currently ranked below SHSU — who they beat at Lone Star — and they will be itching to prove the voters wrong and continue to move their way up in the rankings. If all goes according to plan, UTSA will head into winter break confident and ready to step it up at the 2026 Garland National Qualifier.
SHSU
No. 5 SHSU enters Diamond Cup XVI as new dark horses to contend for a national championship. At Lone Star, they went 2-1, beating Texas 150-50 and losing a nail-biter to UTSA 115-130. However, the story of the weekend was their upset of then No. 2 Texas State. The stars of the game were certainly Andrew Acosta and Spencer Quintana, who shared 11 goals between them out of SHSU’s seventeen total. This SHSU team will head to San Marcos hungry to establish themselves as true title contenders.
Acosta and Quintana are both rostered this weekend, along with other key players David Wright and Wyatt Fredrickson. This SHSU team is quick, making tough tackles in crucial moments on defense and allowing Acosta and Quintana to outpace defenses and score fast breaks. This weekend, the Bearkats will look to refine their game, iron out any wrinkles in strategy from Lone Star and hit the ground running. How will Acosta and Quintana respond to adjustments in opponents’ defense after their stellar performances at Lone Star? How will they match up against an out-of-region Creighton?
The goal for this weekend is for SHSU to put up a strong fight against Creighton and Texas State and continue to climb in the rankings. If the conditions are right, SHSU is always an upset threat, and no team should head into the games against this team thinking that it will be a guaranteed win.
Texas
Texas’s season has begun a little slower than previously expected, but they will enter Diamond Cup XIV ready to continue building experience for their rookies and see where they match up against a top out-of-region team like Creighton. This young team had great moments at Lone Star, and although they finished the weekend 0-3, they will still be a threat throughout the season.
Captain and coach Peter Mosqueda has certainly been making a huge impact for Texas, tallying eight goals throughout the weekend. However, Lone Star also raised questions regarding card trouble — Mosqueda had five yellow cards across three games. Will he be able to have the same impact from the box? Who will step up in his place? An underrated player on Texas’s roster is Isaac Sueltenfuss, who was a key aspect of leadership for the Longhorns and was crucial on defense. Will he be a good Mosqueda replacement when the cards come out? How will Sueltenfuss and Mosqueda steer this team in the right direction?
Texas is still in a rebuilding year, so this weekend, they’ll look to allow their rookies to gain experience and have veteran players like Mosqueda, Sueltenfuss and Salinas turn up the heat on their opponents. While they’re not expecting an undefeated Diamond Cup run, the takeaways that Texas will bring back to Austin will help prepare this team for the season to come.
Texas A&M
After struggling to field a team for the majority of last year, Texas A&M put the work in over the offseason and are now back and better than ever. The Aggies weren’t present at last year’s Regionals or Nationals, but did make appearances as a joint team with Creighton and SHSU respectively at Diamond Cup XVIII and Alamo Cup. Besides that, the Aggies didn’t get a lot of action — but this year, they’re hungry for competition.
Not much is known about Texas A&M — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. While they’re in their rebuild phase, they have a chance to create a new identity based on their new personnel, skill sets and situations, and their strategies are almost completely unknown to the rest of the teams in the Southwest. This mystery can play to their advantage — in a tight-knit conference like the Southwest, where almost all official games played are against each other, teams develop a better and deeper understanding of their opponents, knowing their mannerisms, tendencies and especially what sets them off. Additionally, teams like Texas State and UTSA play MLQ together, allowing them to learn about their opponents nearly year round, but that’s not the case for Texas A&M. With the Aggies’ identity largely an enigma, all their opponents will be guessing, giving them a slight advantage if they utilize their obscurity.
The Aggies will use this tournament to regain their footing in the Quadball world and play their first games under the name Texas A&M for the first time since Alamo Cup 2025 in March. Diamond Cup XIV will be a great opportunity for this young team to learn about the game and play against the best, giving them a strong sense of where they stand against powerhouses like Texas State and Creighton and also allowing them to continue to adjust their strategy and gameplay.
Schedule
9:00am
SHSU vs TAMU* (Pitch/Pool One)
UTSA vs Texas (Pitch/Pool Two)
10:15am
TAMU* vs TXST (Pitch/Pool One)
Texas vs Creighton (Pitch/Pool Two)
11:30am
TXST vs SHSU (Pitch/Pool One)
Creighton vs UTSA (Pitch/Pool Two)
1:30pm
Pool 1 #3 vs Pool 2 #2 (QF1)
Pool 2 #3 vs Pool 1 #2 (QF2)
2:45pm
Winner QF1 vs Pool 1 #1
Winner QF2 vs Pool 2 #1
4:00pm
Final
*All Texas A&M games will be unofficial.
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