We had Penn State join at Nationals 2013, and Saint Ambrose [in Iowa] submit their contact information on May 5th. In order to further develop the League with new schools throughout North America, we first have look at how and why we’ve grown. 

A short history lesson

The League started with just five teams. DePaul, Kent, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Delta. It’s likely these were the first collegiate dodgeball clubs in existence. Since then, most teams have joined the League because of sheer word-of-mouth. There are plenty of stories regarding team uprisings based just on one individual going through all the school bureaucracy.

Creating a student organization, understandably, varies from institution to institution. But the general process usually starts with a small handful of people. Those handful approach the Student Organization or Club Sports department with a request to start an organization, and the management guide through the process.

While the NCDA’s strategy for new teams includes contacting Club Sport departments through email, this rarely results in any significant gains. Many times we’ll get a response that says “we cannot directly solicit the general student population.” In that case, we usually reply that the department keep our information on file future start-ups.

We have a giant list of all the schools we’ve looked at. It includes any schools that have dodgeball intramural programs or even club sport programs. We start by researching all the possible collegiate institutions in North America. From that research, we contact schools that 1) have dodgeball club sports and 2) have IM programs to see if any of those students might be interested in starting up a club to play against other schools by way of our League.

Even then, there are some schools that contact us seeking information to start up a club at their school. Granted, we help as much as we can by explaining the little that is needed to join the NCDA. We have all been through the process, so we’re able and eager to help. Ultimately, it is the individuals of the start-up team that truly have the final say in when a team might grow to compete in intercollegiate competition.

Local Contributions

Grand Valley started up a team essentially on some quality begging from Michigan State. GVSU essentially started on a dare and ended up dominating the League for four years. What to take from this is that Captains of NCDA teams are the best instigators of new teams. At its core, our League is a giant pick up game of dodgeball. We have some common rules, but we’re still a bunch of college players coming together to play other collegiate student athletes.

That’s why most of our expansion will result from new local teams within an hours drive of current NCDA Member Teams. Current members will help these new teams with our ruleset, and explain how the League functions. Granted, we aren’t that complicated, but it never helps to have a friend explain the complicated things to you.

Personally, I take great pride in helping Moody Dodgeball in joining the NCDA. As an officer of DePaul Dodgeball, I managed to reserve some space in the Budget to donate ten balls to the team. Other than that, DePaul also played Moody numerous times and we included them in our regular practices. Through that, they learned the game. I would offer any upcoming team my Officiating services for minimal cost. All they have to do is give me a place to stay! I’ll help that inducting match run smoothly and as enjoyable as possible.

You’ll find that helpful spirit among many of our League’s current players and alumni.

Upcoming Recruitment Strategies

The next few posts will detail the League’s strategy for expansion. We’ll explain our plans for continuing our East Coast expansion (we had a truly awesome increase this year), as well as what we have planned for the South and the Great Plains.

With so much happening this season, its important to remember what got us here! It’s our small, integrated dynamic that brings individuals together. There’s a lot of love in this League. No matter what team you’re up against, let’s just remember the adopted NCDA motto…. Everybody love everybody!

Rebecca Seemann (DePaul #9) is a third year lady dodgeballer for the DePaul Dodgeball Society and has competed in NCDA events for the past three years.

Rachel Joyce (DePaul #13) is also a third year lady dodgeball for DePaul, and will be graduating in just a few weeks.

I sat down with the both of them for an interview:

UPDATE: Here’s a interview with this month’s Ballers of the Month. Becky insisted we include Rachel Joyce, graduating senior for DePaul and playing #12. She’s a fantastic and talented player, garnering headshots everywhere she goes and devastating the opposing side with sniper shots.

Zigmas Maloni: Hello Ladies! Lets start this off simple. Name your favorite team you’ve played against or with:

Becky Seemann: Kent and Kent. Mainly because Layla. And mainly the least because of Billy.

ZM: That Billy comment doesn’t even make sense!

BS: He’ll understand it. That’s all that matters. Overall Kent’s just a wonderful, brilliant, sexy, talented group of dodgeball specimens. (Billy included) And I wish I can shake the hands of all of their mothers and personally thank them for raising such magnificent children of dodgeball.

Rachel Joyce: What’s the one with the girl captain? UWP? They are a high energy and intense team to play against and that’s how DePaul likes to play. So that team was a blast to play against. Also JMU is a really intimidating and serious team when they play other teams but I love that they are willing to loosen up and just have fun when they play us. Plus they taught us a really awesome version of dodgeball [Freezeball] so there’s that.

ZM: Rachel, now that you’re graduating, what are your dodgeball plans?

RJ: Other then playing a major role in the Dodgeball 2 movie, I’ll be playing in a summer league for the second year, as defending champs. It was a blast last year so I don’t expect anything less for this year. I will also hopefully be participating in more tournaments through the Midwest Dodgeball group given that I get a real job and have travel money.

ZM: Both of you have played in the past two Ladies’ Matches at Nationals. Can you describe your thoughts on it?

BS: I think its a great opportunity for everybody to get to play. Even with this being a coed sport, it’s dominated by men–numbers wise. And it’s great for the girls that travel with the team to Nationals to be guaranteed some play time.

RJ: Not only is it a great opportunity for the girls in the league to show their stuff, it is also a blast to just be able to play against other girls. Hopefully it will spur some change throughout the league and more teams will allow their girls to play in tournaments.

ZM: DePaul has a strong tradition of female involvement on their rosters, going back to its founding in 2000. How do you feel being part of that tradition?

BS: How do you know I’m a woman!? How dare you assume! Leave my sight at once.

RJ: It makes me feel warm and tingly inside.. but really its great to be a part of a team and be allowed to play in tournaments because not all the ladies in the league have that luxury. It’s been a great experience, as many DePaulers have said in the past, our team is a tight knit group of people that resemble one big dysfunctional family.

BS: I think its great that we encourage not only girls to play with us at home, but also encourage girls to travel and play at other tournaments. I think DePaul is a great team to show what a coed team in a coed league truly is.

ZM: Any other things you’d like to say to sign off?

RJ: I love you all!

BS: “O’DOYLE RULES”

In this past season, Rebecca played well in the Ladies’ Match at Nationals, including scoring a headshot [at the 24 minute mark. She wears DePaul's black alternate #9 in the video, and towards the end you can see her run across the attack line to give the recipient a hug. That's known as the customary headshot hug rule at DePaul.

Rachel and another DePaul player Alana Beil in the 2013 Ladies’ Match

And earlier in the season at the DePaul University Invite with the help of Rachel, Becky won a 1 on 1 showdown with a UWP player, cinching the only point for DePaul in that game.

Now points won by DePaul are fairly rare, this point being one of two won by the team for that entire event. But every single game played by DePaul is memorable, so here’s a short play-by-play for this particular point.

The score is 4-0, but that doesn’t necessarily dictate the way DePaul plays. The situation is two on three, advantage Wisconsin-Platteville. Rachel Joyce [#12] and Mario Romanelli [#85-R/X], also third year players for DePaul. Mario went for a catch, but suffered a debilitating injury requiring a trip to the hospital for a dislocated finger (He’s back on the floor with even better accuracy as of publishing date).

After this pause in the game, Rachel is left to a 1 on 3 situation.  A spectacular player in her own right, Rachel manages to even up the odds by scoring a tag on one UWP player and catching out another player, entering Becky into the game. Rachel is then tagged out and the situation is a one on one situation. If this happened at a normal DePaul Dodgeball night, we’d all circle around the two, create all sorts of ruckus, and have a good old round of Gladiator Dodgeball. Even during some NCDA matches, DePaul will commandeer the court for a gladiator match [most recently OSU v DePaul at Nationals 2013]. But this time it played out by the book.

Rebecca playing as Ramona Flowers at DePaul’s Halloween Dodgeball.

The two exchanged throws for close to a full minute in the heat of dodgeball battle, neither gaining much of a foothold. With most dodgeballs on Wisconsin’s side of the court, a critical moment in DePaul history was about to be had. Becky scooped up a catch in order to win the point for DePaul. As in all wins by DePaul, the team rushed the court. Matt “Howitzer” lifted her into the air. The rest is for history.

It’s single moments like these that are the great definitions of a student’s collegiate dodgeball experience; something that makes our League special.

It’s also individual players that define a team’s experience, better defining the League’s identity and direction.

DePaul has always included women and played them in matches. Both Rebecca and Rachel act as leaders for DePaul Dodgeball both on an off the court. On the court, DePaul forces every possible bit of fun out of the game, rather than explicitly trying to control the game. They both carry on the tradition and embrace the upcoming generations, helping female friends and teammates with DePaul’s brand of the game, helping them adjust to the college experience. Many of the teams that have good relationships with DePaul will also recognize Rebecca as a friend, a great example of how the NCDA has brought people together from different areas of the country. Many will probably feel the sting of a cross court snipe from Rachel, and remember Becky yelling taunts from across the court.

Rachel graduates this year, in June, with a major in Art. She says she’ll continue to play dodgeball in the Chicago area and socialize with the local dodgeballers, and she will most likely be back for Alumni night.

With one more year left for her undergrad, Rebecca will graduate DePaul with a major in education, with an interest in teaching history. She’ll likely continue to be a regular at dodgeball up until then; she’s had near perfect attendance for the duration of her college career.

Before I begin to talk about this I must say, “Go Tigers.” Now that I’m done being a homer, on to the actual match-up. Having originally been an Athletic Training major I’ve spent a lot of time this semester working with the athletes on our men’s lacrosse team. Knowing that the team has had an up and down season, I’m not quite sure how the game today will play out. Hopefully, the game won’t frustrate me as much as much as the UMD v. Corenell game currently is; though I feel as if this game might be a “beat ‘em down” type of game in favor of the Buckeyes. I don’t know much about OSU’s squad this year, but it’s safe to say they’ve done something right to earn the #3 overall seed in the tournament. I have hope that guys like Thomas DeNapoli and Andrew Wascavage can do something to help keep the game close, but logistics say that the Tiger’s will be sent back to Towson early.

So why does this concern the NCDA? For fun of course! What else would this league be without friendly banter between schools about the other athletics our schools have. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see an obscure JMU v. MSU NCAA softball matchup. Or maybe we’ll see Kent State play Nebraska in water polo. Nobody knows what will happen, but it’s safe to say that if Towson wins today, it will be nothing but fun when I let the Buckeye dodgeball players know about it the next time we play them.

If they start throwing at my head afterwards I won’t blame them whatsoever.

Led by Davis Elkins, St. Ambrose is less than three hours from DePaul/Moody, 90 minutes from UWP and WIU, and would continue a Western expansion along with Nebraska and Kansas State. After the league welcomed Virginia Commonwealth, North Texas, and Penn State next year, a “Northwest” school in Iowa would be greatly appreciated by the Illinois/Wisconsin schools. Bringing in a NAIA school will give a different flavor to the league and could help influence the rules and ideas that the league has as well.

St. Ambrose, as its name would suggest, is a Catholic university. There are 2,752 undergrads that attend St. Ambrose, and there are 75 majors for students to choose between. The Fighting Bees are in the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics), specifically the Midwest Collegiate Conference (MCC). They have 23 varsity sports that compete against other schools. The NAIA is made up of 258 schools, less than there are Division 1 NCAA schools, but the NAIA is more focused on smaller schools across North America (there are a couple schools in Canada that compete as well.) Another school that competes in the MCC with St. Ambrose is Sienna Heights, which is also in the process of becoming a NCDA member team.

For St. Ambrose to join, they need to play another school, whether they’re a member team or not, by the NCDA rule set. They’ll get plenty of opportunities next season, with such short drives to the Illinois/Wisconsin schools, but also throughout the Midwest.

The USA National Team will play other national teams in New Zealand and Australia in September.

Ian Childs [MSU] said this about the NCDA: “you’ll find a plethora of talented guys and girls who will no doubt win games.” There’s always plenty of dodgeball going around, and more dodgeball is being played all the time.

Currently, the USDO [USA Dodgeball Organization] is searching for players for the USA’s national team, in Australia this September. The Deadline is June 30th, but they only consider people that apply. Full information can be found on a facebook post in their group. 

Bill Fair, Commissioner of the National Dodgeball Organization:

USA DODGEBALL TEAM APPLICATION PROCESS
Deadline: June 30th, 2013
Choosing 6 Male Players and 6 Female Players To Represent Our Country and attend the WDBF Invitational in New Zealand September 27th. Two Alternates will also be chosen to go should someone drop out.

Please submit all male/female applications to: bill.fair@worlddodgeball.org.
Female applicants emails will be forwarded to Nicole for consideration.
**AND YES EVEN IF YOU KNOW US YOU STILL NEED TO COMPLETE THE FULL PROCESS BELOW**

SUBMIT ONE EMAIL THAT CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING TO: bill.fair@worlddodgeball.org.

1) A one page biography about yourself describing why you would like to go on the trip, past accomplishments and how you’ve helped to grow the sport of dodgeball. Please include contact information and list the current state you reside in.

2) Submit a YouTube/Vimeo link to a highlight film of your game play. Video should be no longer than 5 minutes.

3) Submit a YouTube/Vimeo link to one full game un-edited that you’ve played in. Length does not matter..We want to see unedited footage of a game you’ve played in.

**If you do not receive a confirmation back via email that we received your info within 48 hours please contact us on this page.

We will be attending as many tournaments as possible between now and the deadline. We will post which tournaments we are headed to and when on this page. Please get in front of us and say hi.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IN A PLAYER
Honesty and integrity First both on and off the court skill second. You are representing your country at these events. We expect that when you get hit by a ball and even if the ref doesn’t see it.. you need to go out. If you have a habit of winning local tournaments in your area by playing the whistle please do not apply. We will hold our players to the highest standard.

After a lot of thinking the best reasoning I could come up with was this: we all hate or love each other like family members do. If you think I’m wrong ask yourself this: don’t the Michigan schools seem like that one older brother sister that you can just never find a way to beat?

Growing up as the youngest in a family with two older brothers and an older sister, I know a lot about inter-family competition. I know that constantly my mind is on taking what my brothers have done, and either beating them face-up, or in any manner possible. To compare that to the NCDA, other than Ohio State the first two years, hasn’t the entire league been trying to take what GVSU, SVSU, CMU, and MSU have accomplished and tried to find a way to one-up it? Hell even within the state of Michigan you can tell these guys might as well be siblings with how much they hate each other on the court, but have incredible levels of respect for each other off the court. Yes, people are going to hate it if a team complains or doesn’t always play to the letter of the law. Last I checked that also happens a lot in a sibling v. sibling situation. There’s honestly no way to keep that from happening and I don’t think I’d ever want it to.

Even here on the East Coast the five teams (assuming RIT and PSU can keep up with things) are all playing catch up to the “older brother” that is James Madison. We all hate playing them, and we all have no problem telling them that we hate playing them. The one thing we do keep clear though is: we hate playing JMU because they’re good, they know they’re good, and they let us know about it. Sort of sounds like an oldest brother keeping the younger brothers in their place right? This is the lay of the land in our league and its pretty hysterical how well this works out.

For those who still don’t see what I see, feel free to take a look at the chart I’ve made below. I’m sure it isn’t completely accurate, but it was the best I could come up with.

The NCDA alumni sign off for the season with a full recap of Nationals 2013: favorite moments, big surprises, overachieving teams, injuries and breaking down the All-Nationals teams. The alumni will be back over the summer with an episode focused on recruiting and fundraising. Thanks for listening!

Finally the first tournament of the season would be in Michigan for the MSU Invite. We were able to bring a lot of new faces on our team for this trip; and they all agreed it was excellent weekend with lots of fun. Our first match was against Kent State, which ended up being a win for them. BGSU would be the next opponent we faced and again the other team took the victory. The last match for the tournament was MSU, where most of our new players took part in that. With crazy dodgeball action, MSU took the win but DePaul suffered a big injury. A new player, Paige Peterson, separated her shoulder during the last point. She was taken to the hospital and made a fast recovery to join the team again in January. As always, the MSU Invite was a fun tournament as DePaul still remained undefeated.

The  next set of games for DePaul would be at the Chicago Dodgeball Open (CDO). We were able to bring far away teams such as Nebraska-Lincoln and JMU to Chicago to have an awesome tournament. DePaul would beat Nebraska-Lincoln to start their home tournament, and would later face JMU and GVSU. JMU turned out to be a vivacious match as each of the games were close. JMU would take the win for the first time playing DePaul. Grand Valley was the next match and like always, exuberant fast-paced dodgeball was played. GVSU would take the win; winning all their matches during the CDO, just like DePaul.

DePaul would try to attend the Ohio Dodgeball Cup, but because of funding issues with our school, we couldn’t make the trip. DePaul would host another home tournament, the DePaul University Invite (DUI). University of Kentucky, UWP and Moody attended the DUI, but each team would only play two matches because of court scheduled time. DePaul vs UWP was our first match and once again DePaul suffered another injury. Mario “Mario Mario” Romanelli dislocated his finger and had to leave the tournament. He was able t join the team again before Nationals. UWP proved to be a power armed team as they won our match. Kentucky would do the same as they beat us with only 11 guys. DePaul lose the two matches but walked off the court undefeated.

Before Nationals started, DePaul played one more match with Moody, to settle our series. DePaul claimed the victory winning the cross-town dodgeball series with their compatriots, the Moody Archers.

The trip to Nationals in Kentucky was next for DePaul and they started with an early wake-up call against WKU. With balls being thrown everywhere, WKU took the close win (6-3). But DePaul did win a one-on-one gladiator in the match, as Rachel Joyce got the kill for a DePaul win. The next match was DePaul vs SVSU, where Saginaw played hard and fast to win the match (6-2). But once again DePaul won another one-on-one gladiator match, as this time “Mario Mario” got a face shot kill to take the win. The last match for Day 1 was against Ohio State for DePaul. When DePaul played fast, they were taking control but Ohio State slowed down their play to counter act the fast-paced dodgeball. Another one-on-one gladiator was declared, but an unknown Buckeye defeated Matthew “Howitzer” Schroeder in center court. OSU would take the win (I think 4-1).  For Day 2 of Nationals DePaul would qualified as the #14 seed, facing the #3 seed JMU. For a fourth time at Nationals, DePaul faced a one-on-one, as leader Troy “Big Dix” Dixon got the kill. JMU would win the match (5-1) but not before playing some dodgeball shenanigans with DePaul (as well as red rover, but DePaul player William “GIGANTOR” Guenetee messed it up by running around the JMU squad).

The 2012 – 2013 DePaul Dodgeball team was led by Troy “Big Dix” Dixon, Anthony “Pretzel Man” Netzel, Brain “House Party” Van Meter and Mario “Mario Mario” Romanelli. While the record may say otherwise, DePaul left Kentucky undefeated.

-Mario Mario, DePaul #85

Up next on the Tigers schedule came the UMD Tournament. Here they took out over a year’s worth of frustration on new league member Virginia Commonwealth, destroying them 12-0. In their next match, the Tigers were outclassed by the University of Kentucky losing 3-1. They followed that up with a 3-0 loss to Kent State. Towson finished off their day losing in a tight rematch against UMD 2-1. Leaving with their first win in program history, Towson took the rest of the semester off from NCDA events.

In December, Towson travelled up to Rowan University in New Jersey to attend an annual foam ball based tournament. With three groups in this tournament, men’s women’s and co-rec, Towson had plenty of opportunities to make an impact and meet new people. A Lot of northeast area teams attend this tournament and the Tigers have been in talks with many of them about joining the NCDA, so keep your ears open people!

Coming back from a long winter break, Towson travelled back down to the University of Maryland for a round robin with the Terrapins and the Rams of VCU. As a team, the Tigers experienced their first major breakthrough taking out their in-state rivals for the first time in team history 4-2. Fortunately, the Tigers avoided a big letdown, handling business once again against VCU 6-0. Towson left College Park with not only their first ever round robin win, but broke out the broomsticks and swept the day.

Up next the Tigers headed down to Harrisonburg, VA to attend BEAST II at James Madison University. Sadly, the team came heavily undermanned, only travelling with twelve players and with four of the team’s top five players back home. Surprisingly, Towson played to a level that exceeded expectations. In their first match, Towson lost to JMU 3-0, holding the Dukes to the least amount of points ever scored in a match against the two teams. Next, Towson played VCU for the third time this year. Though they won again 6-0, it was evident that the Rams had made great strides in their level of play compared to the first time the two teams met. Then, the Tigers went up against the top-ranked team in the nation Kent State for the second time. Here, Kent won 2-0, but it was clear that Towson is inching closer to taking down the Golden Flashes. Following that loss, Towson lost again, this time to Miami (OH) in an upset 3-1. Afterwards, the team decided that with a twelve man lineup, and a three hour drive facing them, they couldn’t handle a fifth match and chose to forfeit to Saginaw Valley State 1-0.

Taking the month of March off, the Tigers headed down to the biggest event of the year, Nationals. After ten hours on the road to Lexington, Towson was matched up against a team they have never seen before in University of Wisconsin-Platteville. After quickly going down 2-0, Towson came back to take a point from UWP with one second left in the first half. Taking the momentum into the second half, Towson won another two games, taking the match 3-2. Waking up on Saturday, Towson faced another team they had never seen before in Central Michigan. This time the results favored the opposing team, with Towson losing 4-1. Afterwards, Towson played the miscellaneous team, winning the match by default. Sadly, the Tigers lost in the opening round of elimination games to Western Kentucky, 4-0.

Towson University’s second year as a member of the NCDA was a large success in comparison to their first. Towson took home six wins overall, and beat their in-state rivals in UMD for the first time. The future looks bright for the Tigers, but as always, no games are won on paper. As a captain for TU, I’d say that our biggest goal for the following year is to take control of the East Coast and find a way to knock off JMU from the top. 2012-13 was fun, but we’ll be coming back in 2013-14 stronger and better than we’ve ever been.

PSU was placed in a group with Kentucky, Michigan State, and Bowling Green. The Nittany Lions opened play on Friday night against Kentucky. Needless to say, they were a little shell shocked at home hard UK threw, but after the first few points they adjusted to the speed of the game. PSU also received some coaching, and despite falling 9-0, their level of play in point nine was significantly better than in point one. On Saturday, PSU opened with Bowling Green, and showing major improvement they forced overtime on the Falcons. They would lose 3-2 in OT, but still played much better than previously. After that the Nittany Lions faced the Spartans in a Land Grant Rivalry game, and despite losing 6-0 to the future National Runner Ups, they were extremely competitive and forced MSU on the 10 clock multiple times. On Sunday PSU was given the #16 seed, and faced #1 Kent State. They would be over matched by Kent’s speed and strength, losing 6-0.

Overall Penn State may not have had the results they wanted in their first tournament, but they did play well. These Nittany Lions are young, and should start making noise next season.

In the second semester, WKU traveled to James Madison to compete in the BEAST II. There they picked up the biggest win in school history, as they knocked off rival (and defending National Champion) SVSU 3-2 in OT. The Toppers also picked up a win against VCU (5-1) but lost games to JMU (4-0) and Kent (4-0). WKU also fought UK in the Battle of the Bluegrass at Butler County High School, but once again Kentucky would beat the Toppers.

At Nationals, WKU was put into a group with SVSU, Ohio State, and DePaul. They opened up with a game against DePaul, wining a high scoring game 6-3. WKU also knocked out OSU 4-1, but were defeated in a rematch of their epic BEAST II game against SVSU 6-1. This gave them the 8th seed on Sunday, and they played #9 Towson for a chance to make the quarterfinals. The Toppers were able to take care of business, winning 4-0 against the Tigers. This set up a final game against Kent this season, and while Western Kentucky gave it their all, they were ultimately outmatched 5-0.

WKU had a good season, making the National Quarterfinals, a step above where they were at Nationals 2012. Playing a brutal schedule (played two Final Four teams and the defending champions a total of nine times of their fifteen matches) led to a record that wasn’t as good as their team was, but watch for Western Kentucky to do well again next season.

The April Baller of the Month is one of the more specialized awards out of the year. Because we choose the BOTM in the middle of the month, it usually falls after Nationals, and thus there is usually a great story behind it.

This April, we celebrate the NCDA’s own Chief of Content, Sam Hiller. The sheer amount of writing this man has done for the NCDA over the past year is enough to warrant the award… but a very special icing on the cake involves MSU making it to the Championship. 

MSU, one of the founding Member Teams of the NCDA, has never made the National Championship in the team’s 10 year history. The MSU program has had its ups and downs over the years, overshadowed by dominating Grand Valley in the early years and often outplayed by regional powerhouses Central Michigan and Saginaw Valley. That doesn’t say Michigan State is a bad team; they keep it competitive with the rest of the Michigan schools, and they have proven time and time again they are able to handle teams outside the state of Michigan. Maybe it was Sam’s institution of the Team Sit policy between halftimes. But the story of MSU’s ride to the Finals is a great epic that has already been written by his truly.

But this League isn’t solely defined by the Champions. There are hundreds of collegiate student athletes that define the play and come together for some good fun times, there are many dedicated players and alumni that make the League stronger in hundreds of different ways. The website (and the Podcast) would not be the content rich entity it is without Sam’s help and direction.

Sam finished off the season, and the end to his captaincy, on the dodgeball court, in the last few minutes of the Championship game. While each Captain has his or her own memory of the last minutes of their college-defining career, Hiller’s instance has to be one of the better options of the lot. And now I’ll sign off with an interview with the man himself:

Zigmas Maloni: Tell me your thoughts on the final match, and the road getting there through Nationals.

Sam Hiller: The road getting to the Finals was tough. Our first game of the day was against a very strong UWP team that we foolishly underestimated. Everyone was looking forward to the SVSU game that we didn’t realize that UWP was a very solid team. With a lot of power throwers they looked like they could take us, and when the final whistle blew, we only had two people left on the court in a 2-1 win. After that was a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals with SVSU, one of our biggest rivals in the NCDA. Despite dropping that first point, we remained confident, and when we got up to a 2-1 lead and a 5-3 man advantage, I realized we were going to win. I made the biggest play of my career and got a big catch on one of SV’s best throwers, and Mike Van Ermen was able to finish off the Cards as we got what I considered the most emotional win I’ve ever had in dodgeball.

Our next opponent was Kent, and I had probably my best game as a player (5 catches, 3 in 2 minutes, and 0 outs) and we played probably our best ball of the season. That brought us to the championship game, where we faced off against GVSU, a team we’d never beaten. They simply outmatched us, and our injuries/lack of depth/lack of power arms really hit us in the title game. It’s funny though, because that was the worst game I’ve ever played (0 kills, 0 catches, hit in the face by Kenny Bacchus) but yet it was probably my favorite game. We didn’t have a match for Kevin Bailey, but yet we still all had a good fun game. In the last point, we were down 3-0 and I knew that our time was up, and my time specifically, and I started getting emotional. Mark Trippiedi, the great guy he is, was nice enough to let us stack the outline so I could be on the court for the end of my career. It was a truly great gesture.

Overall we made a miraculous journey, and even though the bracket lined up the way we hoped it would, we still had to play our butts off to get to the title. Nobody on our team had a rough tournament, and I am extremely proud of what we accomplished.

ZM: Name one instance, that isn’t covered in the above, that you’d like to highlight as one of your favorite parts about Nationals 2013.

SH: One of my favorite parts of Nationals is seeing all the people you don’t get to see that often, whether it’s alumni like McCarthy, Bomis, and Raymer, or players on other teams, its great to get to spend time with people I consider good friends.

ZM: You’ve done some major work over the past year for the League as Chief of Content, many great hours put in. Single out your favorite article, or even an individual podcast.

SH: My favorite podcast was the one when we were calling everyone out. Specifically, I was calling everyone out. It was just fun, and it sounded like people enjoyed it. As far as an article I have two- the alumni appreciation on McCarthy and the NCAA tournament article I wrote.

ZM: Anything else you’d like to say or highlight?

SH: I just wanna say thanks again for everyone throughout the league, I truly like all of you! Thank you!

Led by Ryan Carlton and Jude DuPart, OSU started off their season with a road trip to Kent State, where they were ultimately defeated 2-1. After that they hosted the OSU Round Robin, featuring UK, MSU, Kent State, and SVSU. Their first game was a 3-0 loss to UK, then they lost to MSU (4-1), SVSU (3-2), and Kent (3-1). Going 0-4 at your own tournament is not ideal, but all five teams would go on to make the National Quarterfinals.  The Buckeyes were then off until December, when they traveled to the Miami Round Robin. There, they got their biggest win of their season, winning 3-1 over #1 ranked Kent State. They also beat Miami (6-0) but lost to UK (4-2).

Their second home tournament was the Ohio Dodgeball Cup, a tournament the Buckeyes fared much better at. Wins over BGSU (4-2) and RIT (8-0) showed they were still a quality team, although Kent did get revenge for their loss in December, winning 4-0.

At Nationals, the Buckeyes were placed in a group with SVSU, DePaul, and WKU. The first day, they didn’t have some of their top players, but they still played very well despite losses to SVSU (4-2) and WKU (4-1). OSU also beat DePaul 4-1. Their play across the season and Nationals earned them the #10 seed on Sunday, and their first game was against #7 CMU. In a battle of great catching teams, the Buckeyes were able to come out on top 3-1. This set up a rematch of their earlier games against Kentucky, and with the return of some of their talented young players for Sunday, they took the first two points going into the half against the #2 seed. However, UK’s strong arms were too much for OSU, as the Wildcats would down the Buckeyes 3-2 in OT.

Ohio State proved this season that they’re still one of the Nation’s best teams, and with a ton of talented Freshmen and Sophomores they could easily be looking at a Final Four berth in 2014.

In the second semester they opened up at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, playing GVSU once again, but this time they lost 2-1 in OT. Then the Cards faced the Spartans, and held on to win 3-2 in OT, and then after dropping the first point to CMU, SVSU was able to win 4-1. Their showing at the MDC was good, but their showing at the BEAST II was even better, winning the tournament. They lost to WKU 3-2 in OT, but won games against Kent (3-0), JMU (2-1 in OT), Miami (4-1), and Towson (1-0). Saginaw also hosted their Senior Tournament, playing CMU (5-0 win) and BGSU (5-0 win).

SVSU was considered one of the favorites to win Nationals 2013, as the fourth ranked team entering the tournament, their strong season, and the fact that they won the tournament the previous season. They were placed in a pool with WKU, Ohio State, and DePaul, three interesting match ups for Saginaw. SVSU won a close game with OSU (4-2), then had to default their game against DePaul for exceeding the 20 man roster limit. Their last game on Saturday was a rematch with WKU, and the Cardinals crushed them, winning 6-1. Despite the default, SVSU remained the four seed as they played #13 Northwestern State in the first round. They won easily, 5-0, setting up a match with #5 MSU. SVSU jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but strong Spartan play derailed their Back to Back Titles hope, as Saginaw would lose 3-1.

Overall it was a strong season for SVSU, as they outperformed their expectations from their poor play at the beginning of the season and morphed into a top team by season’s end. Replacing Spencer Jardine will be tough, for both his play and leadership, but the Cardinals aren’t going anywhere.

Next for the Dukes came the UMD Tournament. Here, they beat UMD again, Virginia Commonwealth, and University of Kentucky, but lost to Kent State. After losing to the Golden Flashes 3-2 in overtime, JMU came back to crush the Terrapins 6-0. Their next match against Kentucky was a sweep, but not without its controversy. Kentucky chose to forfeit the match due to displays of unsportsmanlike conduct, giving them their only loss of the season until Nationals. JMU finished their day taking down in-state rival VCU with a final score of 9-2. At the end of the day, The Dukes left with their record sitting at 5-1, looking to finish the fall semester with The Battle for Virginia with VCU.

JMU swept the gym of the Rams taking the Battle for Virginia 12-0. In standard JMU fashion, no game in the match was close, JMUs shot clock never going down to a ten second clock during the entire match.

Coming back in the spring, the next step for Captain Chris Hess and the rest of his Dukes was the trip to DePaul for the Chicago Dodgeball Open. At the Chicago Dodgeball Open, JMU started out their day by losing 3-1 to Grand Valley State, the team that would eventually become National Champions. Unfortunately for DePaul, they were next up on the Duke’s schedule. They were taken out at their own gym in spectacular fashion losing 5-0. Up next on JMU’s docket were the Spartans of Michigan State. This match went down to the wire, with JMU winning 2-1. The Dukes finished their day taking out Moody Bible Institute 4-1. On their way back to Harrisonburg, JMU had a record of nine wins, two losses.

After a month off, JMU held their second annual tournament in BEAST II. Their schedule held the reigning national champions in Saginaw Valley State, the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky, are-match with Kent State, Towson and Miami (OH). JMU started their day with a tough battle against Towson winning 3-0. Though they didn’t lose a game, this is the closest match these two East Coast schools have ever played against each other. Up next, JMU took down Miami (OH) with relative ease 5-1. Unfortunately, this is where the fun  briefly stopped for the Duke’s with Saginaw Valley up next. In a tight game, the reigning National Champions took down the host school 2-1 in overtime. Coming back from their loss JMU took out Western Kentucky 4-0. After a great comeback, the Duke’s ended their day in disappointment, losing to Kent State 1-0. Up next for JMU: the BGSU invite.

Before heading to Nationals, JMU headed up to Bowling Green State. Both of their games, one against BGSU and a re-match with MSU, went into overtime. Thankfully for JMU they came out on top, winning both matches 3-2. This ended  the Duke’s season with fourteen wins and four losses

Up next for the Dukes: Nationals. In group play, JMU handled business as usual, taking out Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA) 9-0 on the first Friday match in Nationals history. Getting a chance to sleep in a little later than most teams, the Dukes woke up on Saturday ready to go, winning over Miami (OH) 8-0. In an epic rematch, JMU took out the Lakers of Grand Valley State 2-1. Most critics would say this game was a disappointment, with JMU playing outside of their normal fashion and slowing the game down to a snail’s pace. Taking the win as what it was, the Dukes came out on top of their pool with a 3-0 record. On Elimination Day, their first match was against DePaul which they handled easily, winning 5-0. However, JMU lost in the quarterfinals after competing against an angry GVSU squad, who exacted revenge and won the match 4-1.

For the second straight year, JMU was taken out in the quarterfinals of Nationals. What does the future hold for this team? Chris Hess is stepping down as the captain of the team, letting Ben Sizemore take over for next year. This team is on the map with a huge target on their back. The raucous team from Harrisonburg, Virginia quickly made a name for themselves in the dodgeball community, but, now, they have to prove that they can stay consistent in the 2013-2014 year.

The defending National Runner Up, Kentucky was led by Zac Brown in the 2012-2013 season. They started their season play WKU for the first of many times, winning 4-0. After that they went to the OSU Round Robin, where the Cats went undefeated. They beat MSU (4-0), OSU (3-0), and Kent (3-1). Big Blue Nation then went to the UMD Invite with mostly JV players, beating Maryland (4-2) and Towson (3-1), but dropping an extremely controversial game to JMU (2-0). That would be UK’s sole loss of the regular season though, as they would go on a tear the rest of the way. UK then played at WKU, with the Varsity team winning 4-2 and the JV team winning 4-0. Kentucky hosted their first tournament of the season in November, the UK Invite, where they picked up wins over Miami (5-0), WKU (6-0), and Kent State (4-0). Their final matches of the Fall Semester were at the Miami Invite, which wins over Miami (5-0), Kent State (2-1), and OSU (4-2).

In the second semester, Kentucky played a significantly fewer amount of games. They were off until the DePaul University Invite in March, going 2-0 with wins over DePaul (4-1) and Moody Bible (2-1). They also had the Battle of the Bluegrass against WKU, winning 3-0.

At Nationals 2013, the Wildcats were placed with Bowling Green, Michigan State, and Penn State in Pool B. UK welcomed PSU to the NCDA with a 9-0 win on Friday night, then had a tough battle on Saturday morning with MSU in which they won 4-2. They also beat BGSU 4-0 on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, Kentucky was named the #2 seed, and played #15 Miami in their first game. They were able to win 4-0, moving on to play #10 OSU in what might be the game of the tournament. OSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but UK came storming back and forced overtime, and eventually were able to win 3-2. UK then faced GVSU in a battle of titans, two teams that hadn’t played each other all season but were destined for a huge game. Unfortunately for UK, it wasn’t in the cards to go to their second straight title game, as they fell 4-1 to Grand Valley.

Ultimately it was a very good season for UK, as they went 21-2 on the season. They have high hopes for next year, and should be one of the favorites going into the 2013-2014 season.

FIRST TEAM

• MVP:Mark Trippiedi (GVSU)
• Dylan Fettig (GVSU)
• Camden Fullmer (Kent)
• Felix Perrone (WKU)
• Wes Peters (CMU)
• Kevin Bailey (GVSU)
• Brady Etzler (BGSU)
• Brett Hadwin (CMU)
• Andrew Hassett (JMU)
• Dan Shackelford (Kent)
• Mike Van Ermen (MSU)
• Marteece Pennington (NSULA)
• Wes Hopkins (UK)
• Sam Hiller (MSU)
• Jeremy Stempky (GVSU)

SECOND TEAM

• Troy Dixon (DePaul)
• Brent Gromer (JMU)
• Jon Shaw (Towson)
• Zach Ross (UK)
• Alex Sorrels (WKU)
• Chris Hess (JMU)
• Chris Stringer (OSU)
• Zach Phelps (SVSU)
• Spencer Jardine (SVSU)
• Kevin Miller (MSU)
• Ian Childs (MSU)
• Myles Shepard (SVSU)
• Max Siler (SVSU)
• Alex Swedowski (UWP)
• Brett Ireland (JMU)
• Alex Acton (MSU)
• Sean Smith (Towson)

The University of Maryland Terrapins finished their sophomore campaign in the NCDA with a 4-5 record. Their first matches of the year were at the Towson Throwdown, taking down host Towson 6-0 and losing to James Madison 5-2. The Terps left the day heading back to College Park with a 1-1 record to begin their season.

Maryland’s next tournament was hosting their annual UMD Round Robin. Here the Terrapins lost to University of Kentucky 4-2, James Madison 6-0, and Kent State 4-0. They also beat VCU 6-1 and Towson 2-1. Leaving the day with a 2-3 record Maryland was clearly not satisfied with their performance as the host school.

At the second UMD Round Robin, the Terps played host to Towson and to VCU. After losing to Towson for the first time in their in-state rivalry, Maryland came back to crush VCU 6-0.

In a non-NCDA event the Terrapins did form a 4-man roster to participate in the Dodge4Cure tournament in southern Pennsylvania. Here they helped raise over $3,000 dollars for Breast Cancer awareness and research. Sadly for them, they lost to Towson’s team pre-quarterfinal round. This game was highly enjoyable with both teams messing with the refs to prove that while every other team there was taking the tournament incredibly seriously, the two NCDA squads knew how to have a good time.

Unfortunately due to financial concerns, Maryland was unable to travel to both the BEAST II at JMU and to Nationals in Kentucky. While still hoping to host a post-season round robin, the Terps season is over now with captains Chris Via and Dylan Allred wishing they had more opportunities for wins and just to play.

As a side note Dylan Allred did offer this statement on his season: “I’m the best dodgeball player that has ever lived.” While confidence is a good thing, I’m sure players like Wes Hopkins, Mark Trippedi, Mike McCarthy, Sam Hiller, and many others, would have something to say about that. I certainly hope the target on #11 for Maryland next year isn’t too big.

The Chippewas were led by Wes Peters, in his first season as captain. Their first tournament was the BGSU Invite, and they fared decently well. Despite losing to GVSU (7-1) they knocked out Miami (7-1) and BGSU (7-1) thanks to some strong catching and good young talent. They also received a bid to the MSU Invite, and they went 1-2 there. The Chips once again beat Bowling Green (4-1) but took losses to Kent (5-0) and MSU (8-1) despite leading the Spartans in that game.

Central had a long layoff between the MSU Invite and their next tournament, the Michigan Dodgeball Cup. Although they didn’t pick up any wins at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, they showed great improvement, holding MSU to three points, taking a lead on SVSU, and playing well against future National Champion GVSU. CMU also went to Saginaw in the second semester, where they beat BGSU for the third time in the season (2-1) and lost to SVSU (5-0).

At Nationals, Central was in Pool A with Kent State, Towson, UWP, and the Miscellaneous team. They played Kent, Towson, and the Miscellaneous teams, with their first game being Friday night against Kent. Despite some great catching, they couldn’t pull off the upset losing 4-0. The next day they played Towson, and took advantage of a weakened Tigers squad to win 4-1, and got the automatic win over the Miscellaneous team. Central earned the #7 seed on Sunday, and played #10 Ohio State in a battle of two of the top catching teams in the NCDA, and the Buckeyes were able to prevail 3-1.

CMU showed this season that they’re a team that’s here to stay, despite losing so many of their core players. A solid recruiting class and continued stellar play by their young players and catchers for next season will make the Chips a team to be feared once again.

The VCU Rams entered their first season in the NCDA not knowing what to expect. Much like Towson and University of Maryland, their first season wasn’t very spectacular. Their first tournament was the UMD Round Robin. In their first match the Rams lost to Towson 12-0. In their next three games VCU lost to Kent State 7-0, JMU 9-2, and UMD 6-1. At the end of the day the Rams went home knowing they had lost all their matches, but made a steady amount of improvement from match to match.

Their next match was in the Battle for Virginia falling to JMU 12-0 to end their first semester in the NCDA. VCU came back in the spring semester returning to College Park to face UMD and Towson. Both the Tigers and the Terrapins downed the Rams 6-0. The two bright spots in these losses were that they did not lose in as high of volume as they had previously, and they made the games much closer putting a scare into both teams at one point.

VCU ended their season travelling to Harrisonburg, VA home of the JMU Dukes to participate in BEAST II. Here the Rams lost to Miami (OH) 5-1, Towson 6-0, Western Kentucky 5-1 and Kent State 4-0. Though they lost all their matches on the day, the vast improvement the Rams had made from the start of their season to the end of BEAST II.

Going through a season of tough times, the VCU rams finished their inaugural season in the NCDA going 0-11. Behind the leadership of Shadeed Drakeford, the Rams made great leaps and bounds from the start of the season to the end. With Shadeed stepping down as captain at the end of the year the Rams have a few concerns for next year. First, where will their recruits come from? Second, who is going to step up and take over as captain next year? Will the team learn how to pinch the right way to aid their throwing? Finally, with guys like Michael “Spiderman” Tse and Andrew “Snipes” Williams graduating, where will their talent come from next year?

Next year holds a lot of questions and a lot of potential for VCU.

Captained by Camden Fullmer and Dan Shackelford, Kent started their season off hosting OSU, winning 2-1. They then traveled to OSU, go 2-2 at the tournament with an OT win over SVSU (2-1) and a win over OSU (3-1) but losses to MSU (3-0) and UK (3-1). The Flashes would play plenty more games, and went on a roll as they won the Maryland Invite with wins over JMU (3-2 in OT), VCU (7-0), Towson (3-0), and Maryland (4-0). Two weeks later they traveled to the MSU Invite, placing in second thanks to wins over BGSU (3-0), CMU (5-0), and DePaul (4-0) but were dropped by the Spartans (2-0). The next week they traveled to the Kentucky Invite, beating WKU (4-0), and Miami (5-0) but losing to UK (4-0). In December Kent drove down to Miami, and with an undermanned squad were able to go get a win over Miami (5-1) but lost games to UK (2-1) and rival OSU (3-1).

Determined to be the first Kent State team to win the title, the Flashes destroyed the competition at the Ohio Dodgeball Cup. Wins over RIT (9-0), OSU (4-0), Miami (7-0), and BGSU (4-1) asserted that they were for real. Kent also went to the BEAST II, losing 3-0 to SVSU but winning against Towson (2-0), VCU (4-0), WKU (4-0), and JMU (1-0).

At Nationals, Kent started with a win over CMU (4-0), then took down the Miscellaneous team (6-0), and UWP (3-2). By going undefeated on Saturday, they guaranteed their second straight season of being the #1 seed in the Sunday bracket, facing #16 PSU on Sunday. They would win 6-0, setting up a showdown with #8 WKU. The Flashes took care of business, winning 5-0. This meant they’d once again face #5 MSU, and for the third time this season they were shutout by the Spartans. However, a second straight Final Four and the second straight season of playing the most games in the NCDA made this a very successful season for Kent.

The MSU Spartans ended up 16-8-3, and made their first ever appearance in the National Title Game.

State was led by Sam Hiller in his second year as head captain, and their first tournament of the year was the OSU Round Robin. There they faced Kentucky, a school they hadn’t played in four seasons, and they were dominated 4-0. Not being able to get off the baseline killed MSU, and UK controlled the game easily. After that though the road got easier for MSU, as they rolled off a seven game winning streak, with wins over SVSU (5-0), Kent (3-0), OSU (4-1), BGSU (5-1), Kent (2-0), CMU (8-1), and DePaul (5-0). They placed second in the OSU Round Robin and won their third straight MSU Invite, but a date at GVSU loomed large for the Spartans. It ended up being the game of the regular season, and MSU came the closest they’d ever come to beating GVSU, losing by literally inches in overtime.

In the second semester, MSU would travel to the CDO for the third straight season, and they drew Moody Bible, Nebraska, and JMU. The Spartans K.O.’d Nebraska 10-0 and MAD 8-0, despite only having 14 players. The battle with JMU was a tough one, as MSU wanted revenge for a loss at Nationals 2012, but JMU used good ball control to win 2-1. The biggest regular season tournament in the NCDA, the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, was next for MSU, and they’d go 1-2-1, with a win over CMU, a loss in OT to SVSU, and a loss to GVSU. They also played at Bowling Green, losing in OT to JMU but beating the BGSU Falcons 5-0.

At Nationals 2013 State faced BGSU and UK again, and also faced newcomer Penn State. At 7:30 in the morning, MSU took down the Falcons 6-0, but once again UK was able to defeat Michigan State. However, MSU put up a fight, being down 3-0 and nearly coming back to tie it before losing 4-2. Land Grant Rivals MSU and PSU fought a good fight, but MSU was too strong to win 6-0. A depleted roster (only 17 players, five or six battling injuries) made a strong run on Sunday though. Their first game as the #5 seed was against #12 Wisconsin-Platteville, and MSU escaped in a scare 2-1. UWP was the aggressor in the game, but MSU caught and killed in transition well enough to win. Next MSU battled rival SVSU, and they dropped the first point. Despite trailing, MSU played with confidence and took the next two points. They whittled down the Cards in the game clinching point, and multiple big plays led to a MSU win. With Kent State being the next team on the docket, MSU felt confident. Huge catches and timely kills allowed MSU to control the game and win the game 3-0, allowing MSU to go to their first title game ever. In the championship, they were outmatched by GVSU, with the Lakers having more power arms than the Spartans had to counter with. It was a great run by MSU that fell just short, as they lost 3-0 in the championship.

The dedication he shows to this game is inspiring; only a few select individuals show the same amount on a regular basis.  Every day he sits down and thinks about what he could do next and how could he create new material for our interest and amusement.  He consistently brings us this material, whether it be about tournament results, past and present players, or a new format for seeding at Nationals.  He brings us this content not only for our enjoyment but for his own as well.  He enjoys what he does, and in turn we enjoy it for the love and commitment he puts into it.

His passion he has for the game goes far beyond simply playing dodgeball.  Passion does not simply lie with act of playing the game but the things you do behind the scenes; the time, the money, the teaching, and the writing all go into this extra work that this man puts into our league.  He shows the ultimate sportsmanship and demands it in return like any true athlete would.  He is a leader, a mentor, a teammate, a rival, a competitor, an athlete, and a great friend to me. In case you have not figured out who this gentleman is yet, I am talking about it is the great Sam Hiller.

This year Sam led his team to the FIRST National Championship appearance, a huge feat for the ten year old club.  He is an unbelievable asset to his team and this league as well.  Sam, congratulations on a great career and thank you for everything else you have done for this league!

~ Michael Patrick McCarthy

The Grand Valley State University club dodgeball team was founded in 2005. The program became a dynasty almost immediately. 

The Lakers won their first national championship in 2007 and kept on winning, completing a national championship four-peat in 2010. After a two-year drought, the Lakers team sat on top of the dodgeball world again, bringing the championship trophy back to Allendale.

GVSU traveled to the University of Kentucky last weekend to take part in the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association tournament. On Saturday, GVSU took part in a round robin series, facing off against Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Miami University and James Madison University. The Lakers dominated Northwestern State and Miami, walking off the court with 7-0 and 6-0 wins respectively.

The game against James Madison, however, didn’t go as smoothly. Despite beating the Dukes previously in the year, the Lakers got off to a slow start in the match and fell 2-1. The loss ended up being a positive for GVSU, said assistant captain Dylan Fettig.

“I honestly believe that we would not have won the championship if we would not have lost that game,” Fettig said. “We took it as a reality check and took every game after that a lot more seriously.”

After their strong showing on Saturday, the Lakers shifted their focus to the elimination round on Sunday. They rolled Bowling Green in the first round, taking the match easily with a 5-0 victory. In the quarterfinals, GVSU was given exactly what they had hoped for – a chance for revenge against James Madison.

“After our loss to James Madison, we regrouped at a team meeting,” said Laker captain Mark Trippiedi. “We decided to come out with a new strategy for the rematch and we played lights out the rest of the tourney.”

GVSU focused much more on ball control in their rematch against James Madison, a strategy the team does not usually employ. The players responded and executed the game plan well. The Lakers avenged their previous loss with a 4-1 victory to move on to the semifinals.

GVSU rode the wave of momentum from the triumph of James Madison through the next round, stomping the host Kentucky in another 4-1 victory. On the opposite site of the bracket, Michigan State University managed to upset Kent State, the number one team in the tournament, to set up a mitten state matchup between the two schools in the finals.

The sixth ranked Lakers kept the favorite Spartans off the scoreboard in the championship game, winning the tilt 3-0 to capture the program’s fifth national championship. The win was especially sweet for the returning players who came up short in the semifinals last year.

“The loss last year was very motivational,” said assistant captain Kenny Bacchus. “We had been looking forward to nationals all year and we wanted to help the seniors to leave on a good note.”

The Lakers received a lift on Sunday from senior Jeremy Stempky. Stempky was unable to make the games on Saturday, but proved to be an essential piece of the puzzle Sunday as he made game-changing plays at vital moments to help carry the Lakers to the ultimate prize.

“Besides last year, GVSU has been in every championship game since 2006,” Fettig said. “We had something to prove this year and we worked hard to bring this trophy back to Allendale.”

Led by Mark Trippiedi (GVSU #8-C) in his second year as Head Captain, the Lakers were able to start the season off at the Bowling Green Invite in October and go 3-0. They picked up wins over CMU (7-1), BGSU (5-0), and SVSU (4-1). Their next match was at Saginaw Valley, where they lost their only game of the regular season 2-1 to the Cardinals. They next drew the Spartans of Michigan State at home, and played what could possibly be the game of the season. With a huge 3-2 OT win against the Spartans in which they came back from 2-1 down, the Lakers made a big example to the rest of the league that the were still the team to beat in the NCDA.

In the second semester GV went to the Chicago Dodgeball Open and faced JMU, Nebraska, and DePaul. Grand Valley came back from 1-0 down against JMU in a prequel to their Nationals duels, winning 3-1. The Lakers had no problem with the Huskers or the Demons, gaining a crucial six points over the weekend. The biggest regular season tournament of the season loomed next, the 2013 Michigan Dodgeball Cup, and the Lakers were ready. They took down SVSU in a revenge battle, this time in OT, and then handled the Chippewas and Spartans to win the MDC for the first time in two years. This put GVSU at 10-1 on the season, and was the end of the regular season for them.

GVSU was put into a pool with JMU, Miami, and NSULA at Nationals 2013. GVSU would dominate NSULA 7-0 in their first game, but would be shut down as JMU ran 19 minutes of time off the clock in the second half to preserve a 2-1 win. GVSU bounced back with a win over Miami, and gained the sixth seed in the Sunday Bracket. They crushed BGSU their first game to earn a rematch with JMU, and this time they came out firing, beating the Dukes 4-1. They next played host school UK, and once again they destroyed a good team, getting a 4-1 win. The win over Kentucky put them back in the championship game, this time playing MSU, a team they’d never lost to. Their talent really showed in the title game, as the Lakers manhandled the Spartans to win their fifth title in the nine year history of the NCDA.

Thank you.

I’d say its safe to say that the trend continues, and Nationals 2013 was a fantastic ride for everyone involved. Prepare for a link barrage! 

League Bonding

While Nationals is always a spectacular team bonding experience, we had some incredible League bonding. A perfect example of this is when we tried to take a giant membership photo Sunday morning, and three or four people crowd surfed around the giant mass of student athletes, held up by rival and friendly teams alike. Next time we’ll get DePaul’s GIGANTOR up there.

From the Ladies’ Match to the All Star Game, to the two dozen Alumni that came in to Officiate and Staff, we are a proven organization. We have a wonderful small group dedication feel, and the capability to expand. Great things to come, all we have to remember is: Everybody love everybody.

Film & Commentary

With great help and coordination of Josh Raymer [WKU Alum], we captured hours of hours of video. They will uploaded over the next month to the NCDA YouTube, by Raymer and his team. So far we have the Ladies’ Match and the Alumni v the All Stars. As well as a couple videos of JMU v Northwestern State.

A note related to that: A rented camera was destroyed over the weekend, and Josh and Ali Raymer need some help in replacing it. They’ve already amounted half of the price in just 24 hours (!!!). If you can kick in, here’s a link as to how.

We also had hours and hours of commentary produced by players and alumni! With a little patience and hard work, we’ll have an awesome record of this event.

Captains’ Meeting

I’d like to thank everyone for enduring the Meeting. I know it’s always tough, but I think we still accomplished a great deal! I’ll post the minutes and issues of the meeting on the forum when I get a chance. I have to get back to some homework, freelancing, and spend much time with my lovely girlfriend. DePaul still has 9 weeks of class left!

Some things out of the Captains’ Meeting:

• Nationals 2014 will be hosted by The Ohio State Dodgeball Syndicate, unless someone makes a bid and we have to do a vote. (Towson put in a bid for 2015)
• League Membership Fee is $100 and will be collected by Dec 31 2013, for the purposes of incorporation of the NCDA as a non-profit governing body.
• Some rule discussion: Likely the biggest was trap catching… we’ll get the full body up over the off-season, aiming to release the Rulebook by August 15th or so.
• People were interested in rotating hosts for Average Joes’ Podcast, so we’ll have more and more content to listen to next year.

May Day at DePaul

While this was gone over in the Captains’ Meeting, i’d like to remind everyone that the DePaul Dodgeball Soceity is hosting the May Day Dodgeball Rally on May 25th. Its Memorial Day weekend, and should be a fantastic hat tournament/event held in the wonderful City of Chicago! Open to all Alumni/Current Players/Random friends that want to see DePaul’s brand of dodgeball.

Extra Thanks

I’d also like to thank the staff of the NCDA, as well as Zac Brown and all of his Nationals 2013 staff. It’s an honor to be able to work and help develop this organization, and I’ll be proud to call myself… President? General Coordinator? Intern? Whatever it is, I’ll do what I can to keep the League together. We have some awesome stuff planned, so as always, keep an eye out on our website. New content is released all the time!

Regards,

Zigmas Maloni
General Coordinator
National Collegiate Dodgeball Association

This past weekend the NCDA held its National Tournament at the University of Kentucky. This was not only my first Nationals, but Towson’s first as well. As a second year team we had wanted to attend last year’s Nationals at Saginaw Valley, but we did not have the funding available to go. This past weekend was a spectacle in my mind that can only ever be imitated, but never duplicated. 

Putting aside that it was my birthday on Saturday, I took a look at what this weekend meant in terms of dodgeball. Sixteen teams (plus some pretty solid players from North Texas) came together to compete in what most people would consider a child’s game in comparison to other, more mainstream sports. Sixteen teams came together to leave it all out on a court, taking no precautions to protect themselves wither than wearing gloves or tape. Most importantly, sixteen teams came together to have one giant party. From my perspective, there is no other way to describe what happened.

In the course of three days I met so many people from so many different parts of the country, that without this sport I would never have the chance to meet. I’ve seen a bunch of guys and girls come together to joke around while were trying to take a serious picture to pick guys up and have them crowd surf as if they were at a rock concert. I’ve met people from the north, the south, and the Midwest. I’ve even heard Ohio State sing about how they don’t give a damn about the whole state of Michigan while surrounded by four teams from the state of Michigan. Hell, I even finagled a free ride from Felix Perrone of WKU.

There are also things I’ve never experienced before that I am so happy that I got the chance to. I’ve witnessed DePaul “play” in a match (though after a point we all know they just turn it into absolute mayhem). I’ve seen a style of 1 on 1 that would put the movie Dodgeball to shame in how awesome it is. Surprisingly though, my favorite part of the weekend though, was meeting the people who made this league possible for all of us. It absolutely blows my mind that people like Aleks Bomis, Mike McCarthy, Kat Takeda, and all the other alumni who I don’t have the time to list, take the time and money out of their own pockets to help make this weekend as successful as it was. As a side note I do have to brag about catching McCarthy in the Alumni v. The World game (more credit goes to the guy who hit him in the dome though).

The one thing that makes me happier than anything about being a part of this league though is how at the end of the day, nobody takes it as seriously as we could. I’ve watched Towson’s club lacrosse, hockey, and rugby teams play other teams and still have issues with them once their game is done. Sure we have issues with each other on the court, we want to win for crying out loud, but once a match is over, I’ve never witnessed someone be the cause of anything that would be considered negative. I’ll even admit that during our last match against WKU that there were some moments where I could have taken things a little too far with one of their players. After the game though we walked up to each other, shook hands, and started joking around as if nothing had ever happened. I really don’t see another league on the collegiate level where that happens with every single team that’s affiliated with it.

The last thing I will say is that this weekend proved that the NCDA for lack of a better term is a fraternity. Unlike most frats though, new members aren’t hazed, their helped out by the elder members as much as they can possibly help. The greatest case of this being Michigan State showing a brand new team in Penn State how to play and helping them out with rules they weren’t familiar with. Hell I even spent some time coaching up Wisconsin-Platteville when they played Kent State. I also watched Felix Perrone coach up NSULA when they were playing JMU Friday night. In my mind, the only reason this league isn’t actually considered a fraternity is because we don’t have Greek letters for our name.

I wish this weekend had never ended, but I will hopefully see everyone that I saw this past weekend and even more teams next year at Ohio State!

~ Sean Smith, Towson Dodgeball

• #2 UK 4 #15 Miami 0
• #3 JMU 5 #14 DePaul 0
• #6 GVSU 5 #11 BGSU 0
• #7 CMU 1 #10 OSU 3
• #1 Kent 6 #16 PSU 0
• #4 SVSU 5 #13 NSULA 0
• #5 MSU 2 #12 UWP 1
• #8 WKU 4 #9 Towson 0

Quarterfinals:

• #3 JMU 1 #6 GVSU 4
• #2 UK 3 #10 OSU 2 (OT)
• #1 Kent 5 #8 WKU 0
• #4 SVSU 1 #5 MSU 3

Semifinals:

• #1 Kent 0 #5 MSU 3
• #2 UK 1 #6 GVSU 4

Championship Game:

• #5 MSU 0 #6 GVSU 3

More results will be posted later on!

• JMU v. NSULA   Winner JMU 9-0
• UK v. Penn St.   Winner UK 9-0
• Wisconsin v. Towson   Winner Towson 3-2
• Kent v. CMU   Winner Kent 4-0

SATURDAY GAMES

• MSU v. BGSU   Winner MSU 6-0
• OSU v. SVSU   Winner SVSU 4-2
• WKU v. DePaul   Winner WKU 6-3
• Kent v. Misc Winner Kent 6-0
• WKU v. OSU   Winner WKU 4-1
• SVSU v. DePaul    Default Winner * DePaul
• BGSU v. Penn St.   Winner BGSU 3-2 (OT)
• CMU v. Towson   Winner CMU 4-1
• JMU v. Miami   Winner JMU 8-0
• Kent v. Wisconsin   Winner Kent 3-2
• GVSU v. NSULA   Winner GVSU 7-0
• UK v. MSU   Winner UK 4-2
• Miami v. NSULA    Winner NSULA 4-1
• OSU v. DePaul  Winner OSU 4-1
• Towson v. Misc.   Winner Towson 3-2 (OT)
• MSU v. Penn St.   Winner MSU 6-0
• CMU v. Misc   3-1
• JMU v. GVSU    Winner JMU   2-1
• WKU v. SVSU    Winner SVSU  6-1
• Wisconsin v. Misc  Winner Wisconsin 3-1
• UK v. BGSU   Winner  UK 4-0
• Alumni v. ALL STARS    ALL STARS-Wasn’t close
• Brave Little Toasters v. Monstars   Brave Little Toasters 2-0

1. Kent
2. UK
3. JMU
4. SVSU
5. MSU
6. GVSU
7. CMU
8. WKU
9. Towson
10. OSU
11. BGSU
12. Wisconsin
13. NSULA
14. DePaul
15. Miami
16. Penn St.

Sunday Bracket and Times:

8:00 Round #1

• Game #1   2 v. 15
• Game #2   7 v. 10
• Game #3   3 v. 14
• Game #4   6 v. 11

9:30-NATIONALS PHOTO

9:45  Round #2

• Game #5   1 v. 16
• Game #6   8 v. 9
• Game #7   4 v. 13
• Game #8   5 v. 12
• Game #9   Winner of Games 3 & 4

11:15  Round #3

• Game #10   Winner of Game 5 & 6
• Game #11   Winner of Game 7 & 8
• Game #12   Winner of Game 1 & 2

12:30- LUNCH

1:15  Round #4

• Game #13   Winner of Game 9 & 12
• Game #14   Winner of Game 10 & 11

3:00 Round #5-CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

• Game # 15   Winner of Game 13 & 14

9:15
SC-Court 2 UK-Penn
SC-Court 3 Wisconsin-Towson
SC-Court 4 Kent-CMU

Saturday Games
7:30
JC-Court 2 MSU-BGSU
JC-Court 3 OSU-SVSU
SC-Court 2 WKU-DePaul

8:45
SC-Court 4 Kent-Trio
SC-Court 2 WKU-OSU
SC-Court 3 SVSU-DePaul
JC-Court 3 BGSU-Penn
JC-Court 4 CMU-Towson
JC-Court 2 JMU-Miami

10:00
SC-Court 4 Kent-Wisconsin
SC-Court 3 GV-NSULA
SC-Court 2 UK-MSU

11:15
SC-Court 3 Miami-NSULA
SC-Court 2 OSU-DePaul
SC-Court 4 Towson-Trio

12:30
SC-Court 4 MSU-Penn
SC-Court 3 CMU-Trio
SC-Court 2 JMU-GVSU

2:00
SC- Court 4 WKU-SVSU
SC-Court 3 Wisconsin-Trio
SC-Court 2 UK-BGSU

3:30
Giant Photo

3:45
SC-Court 2 Alumni Game
SC- Court 4 GVSU-Miami

5:00
SC-Court 2 All Stars

Friday:

7:30 AM- WKU vs DePaul
7:30 AM- SVSU vs OSU

8:45 AM- WKU vs OSU

8:45 AM- SVSU vs DePaul

11:15 AM- OSU vs DePaul

1:45 PM- WKU vs SVSU

TEAM BREAKDOWN

SAGINAW VALLEY

-#4 (12-5-3)

-Led by Max Siler, Torrie Peplinski, Zach Phelps, and Mike Sharp

-Biggest Win: Grand Valley

-Strength: Top 10 players. The Cardinals top 10 match up well with anyone in the country. Their top six is overtime tested and they can win close games.

-Weakness: Depth. SV’s depth isn’t as strong as it was last year, when SVSU won the National Title.

-Impact Player: Spencer Jardine (SVSU #77). As Jardine goes, so go the Cards. A lot is said of his great play, but his energy and leadership are huge for this young team.

-X-Factor: Experience. SVSU is coming off a year when they won the National Championship, and have played in many close games. They won’t be scared when it comes to clutch time.

OHIO STATE

-#8 (4-7-0)

-Led by Jude DuPart and Ryan Carlton

-Biggest Win: Kent State

-Strength: Defense. OSU has always been a great catching and blocking team, and this team is no different.

-Weakness: Inconsistency. The Buckeyes have played very streaky, but not in a good way.You can never know what OSU team is going to show up.

-Impact Player: Chris Stringer (OSU #34). Easily the best offensive weapon they have, he has one of the strongest arms in the league.

-X-Factor: Pace. If OSU can force their tempo on the opposition, and keep the games lower scoring, they can win.

WESTERN KENTUCKY

-#11 (3-7-0)

-Led by Alex Sorrels and Johnny Thacker

-Biggest Win: Saginaw Valley

-Strength: Passion. WKU has some of the best passion in the league, and this helps them get a huge start to games.

-Weakness: Communication. They have a hard time talking on the court, which is one of the biggest facets of the game.

-Impact Player: Felix Perrone (WKU #76-A). Similar to Spencer Jardine at SVSU, Felix is the heart and soul of this Toppers team, and he is one of the best dodgeballers in the league.

-X-Factor: Adaptability. Alex Sorrel’s Hilltoppers can play any game style, whether its fast or slow, ball control or free flowing. If they don’t get a chance to impose their will on the game, this gives them a chance to compete with anyone.

DEPAUL

-#15 (2-8-0)

-Led by Troy Dixon, Anthony Netzel, Brian Van Meter

-Biggest Win: Moody

-Strength: Unpredictability. With DePaul you never know what to expect, and while they can lure you in with goofiness, they can also blast you if you’re not ready.

-Weakness: Strategy. DePaul wings it on the court, and they rarely seem to have a set strategy in place like some of the top schools do.

-Impact Player: Brian Van Meter (DePaul #91-A). His chop throw can be nasty, and he clearly stands out amongst his peers.

-X-Factor: Athleticism. Believe it or not, DePaul has some extremely athletic players who would make the rosters on a lot of teams, and this will help them pull out some wins at Nationals.

GAME BREAKDOWN

WKU vs DePaul: Two totally different tempos go at it, with the Toppers’ slow pace facing the Demons’ speed. I think DePaul can make it a contest, but they might not have enough to knock off WKU.

SVSU vs OSU: Two teams who have had some bad blood in the past. A severely undermanned Cards squad knocked out the Buckeyes in October 3-2, so expect a fully loaded SV team to do the same.

WKU vs OSU: Both these teams will play a litlte slower, but WKU’s all around play should take down the more catching oriented Buckeyes. Watch out though for if some of Ohio State’s players get hot, they could turn this in their favor quickly.

SVSU vs DePaul: The Cardinals will control this one pretty quickly, and it should devolve into a for fun game pretty soon into the second half.

OSU vs DePaul: This is my upset pick of the Saturday portion of the tournament. DePaul is the more athletic team, and I think as thus they’ll out throw the Buckeyes. However, just like in the WKU/OSU game, if Ohio State gets hot they can catch their way to victory.

SVSU vs WKU: The marquee game of the Pool, this is a rematch of the huge upset that WKU had over Saginaw at the BEAST II. These two teams always play it close, and at Nationals 2011 they had a very heated battle. Watch for yet another classic game, but this time likely a SVSU win.

PREDICTIONS

(courtesy of Shadeed Drakeford, VCU)

SCHEDULE:

Friday:

8:00 PM- NSULA  vs JMU

Saturday:

7:30 AM- GVSU vs Miami

8:45 AM- JMU vs Miami

10:00 AM- GVSU vs NSULA

11:15 AM- NSULA vs Miami

12:30 PM- GVSU vs JMU

TEAM BREAKDOWN

JAMES MADISON

-#3 (14-4-2)

-Biggest Win: Michigan State

-Led by Chris Hess, Ben Sizemore, and Taylor Wilhelm

-Strength: Energy. The Dukes carry themselves well, and their swagger gives them the confidence to go toe to toe with anybody.

-Weakness: Accuracy. JMU over the past two years has had hard throws, but they haven’t always found their target. Sometime this works to their advantage, other times it doesn’t.

-Impact Player: Andrew Hassett (JMU #35). One of the Dukes hardest throwers, he can be a game changer with his ability.

-X-Factor: Court control. The Dukes do a good job of staying on the opposing neutral zone line and keeping the other team on their back line.

GRAND VALLEY

-#6 (10-1-0)

-Led by Mark Trippiedi, Dylan Fettig, and Kenny Bacchus

-Biggest Win: Saginaw Valley (x2)

-Strength: Teamwork. The Lakers are a well oiled machine, and they have great team throws, blocking, and coverage for their players.

-Weakness: Transition defense. The Lakers can be picked off in transition, but they make up for this weakness by having good transition offense.

-Impact Player: Kevin Bailey (GVSU #4). The hero of the game of the year vs Michigan State, Kevin has routinely come up clutch this season for Grand Valley.

-X-Factor: Catching. If players like Kyle Peltier (GVSU #19) and Kenny Bacchus (GVSU #32-A) can make big plays catching the ball, this team is nearly unbeatable.

MIAMI

-#12 (3-12-0)

-Led by Sam Clark

-Biggest Win: Towson

-Strength: Countering. Miami has the ability to attack quickly from the baseline, making up for their weaker power throws.

-Weakness: Throwing. They’re weak on power throwers, which makes their countering even more important.

-Impact Player: Jon Puckett (MU #7). Jon has the most talent of anyone on their roster, and they’ll need him to make a run.

-X-Factor: Energy. If the Redhawks aren’t active in transition, they’re going to throw a lot of catches and not throw out opposing players very easily.

NORTHWESTERN STATE

(no preview due to limited games played)

GAME BREAKDOWN

JMU vs NSULA- First time these two have met, but the Dukes shouldn’t have any trouble with the Demons.

GVSU vs Miami- The Lakers and Redhawks haven’t played this season, but GV has more throwers and catchers than Miami can handle. Expect it to be closer than you’d think though.

JMU vs Miami- They met last year in their Nationals pool, and the Dukes escaped 3-2. JMU definitely won’t underestimate the strength of Miami this time, but it should still be a win for the Dukes.

GVSU vs NSULA- The Lakers beat the Demons 6-0 last year at Nationals in pool play, I’d expect them to do something similar this year.

NSULA vs Miami- This could be a huge “seeding game” for Sunday, meaning the winner of this will be in a better position for an easier game on Sunday. Watch for both teams to bust it and go for the big win.

GVSU vs JMU- The biggest game of the pool, possibly even the Saturday portion of the tournament. GVSU survived a strong first half from JMU at Chicago, and went on to win that game. Expect this to be another slugfest, with big hit after big hit. Whoever’s left standing will be in great shape for Sunday.

PREDICTIONS

(courtesy of Shadeed Drakeford of VCU)

Winner of Pool C: GVSU. I’ve been watching videos of GVSU. Now they aren’t the team that went undefeated in 2008. But that being said, the only challenge to GVSU is JMU. In my personal opinion, I feel like GVSU would go easy on NSULA and Miami as warm-up games for JMU. I feel like captain Mark T. wants to make a strong statement to captain Chris H. in that game.

2nd place: JMU. Yes JMU is a 2nd year school. But having play against them 3 times… they aren’t an easy team to beat. If you want to beat them, you need to have your A game against them. Miami and NSULA just got a tough draw. JMU will quickly finish off an opponent if you aren’t careful.

(courtesy of Sam Hiller, MSU)

3-0: GVSU

2-1: JMU

1-2: Miami

0-3: NSULA

Schedule:

Friday:

9:15 PM- UK vs PSU

Saturday:

7:30 AM- MSU vs BGSU

8:45 AM- BGSU vs Penn State

10:00 AM- UK vs MSU

12:30 PM- MSU vs PSU

1:45 PM- BGSU vs UK

TEAM BREAKDOWN:

KENTUCKY

-#2 (16-1-0)

-Led by Zac Brown, Thomas Kidd, and Dakota Taylor

-Biggest Win: Kent State (x3)

-Strength: Structure. They play very organized and do what they do well.

-Weakness: Needing ball control. Without ball control, UK is hurt more than a lot of teams in the league.

-Impact Player:Jacob Hughes (UK #8). Hughes is another power arm, and they’ll need him to complement Wes Hopkins (U #1) if they want to make a deep run.

-X-Factor: Home court advantage. Will the Wildcat faithful come out to support their title contender? Saginaw Valley, Grand Valley, and Ohio State have all won championships on their home turf, UK is looking to join them.

MICHIGAN STATE

-#5 (11-6-3)

-Led by Sam Hiller, Kevin Miller, and Zach Bauer

-Biggest Win: Kent State (x2)

-Strength: Catching. The Spartans are loaded with catchers, and they aren’t afraid of anyone.

-Weakness: Energy. MSU has a hard time playing a full 50 minutes, and they usually start out slow.

-Impact Player: Alex Acton (MSU #72). Coming back from an injury that kept him out of the MDC, Acton is a do it all player who can lead State to victory.

-X-Factor: Health. With 7 of their top 20 battling injuries, the Spartans need to heal up fast in order to make a run at their first title.

BOWLING GREEN

-#13 (2-13-1)

-Led by Brady Etzler, Daniel Daugherty, and Dayv Muldowney

-Biggest Win: DePaul

-Strength: Catching. BG has a decent amount of catchers who can make big plays when needed.

-Weakness: Lack of depth. The Falcons have notoriously been top heavy for years, but this year it is more apparent than normal.

-Impact Player: Brady Etzler (BGSU #4-C). When he’s hot, he can make plays with the best of them. Cannon arm, decent catching ability, and good leadership makes him an all-around threat.

-X-Factor: Brady Etzler. He needs to be on if they want to win some games. His power throw plus his fiery composure can lead them to some W’s, but if he is cold then they could be in a world of hurt.

PENN STATE

(no preview due to no games played)

GAME BREAKDOWN

UK vs PSU: Welcome to the league Penn State! Your first task is stopping the #2 team in the country. It should be a fun one to watch, because PSU could be the best team in the country for all we know.

MSU vs BGSU: The dilemma for both teams in this one is that its a 7:30 AM start. MSU has handled BGSU both times they’ve played, but if the Spartans play sleepy then watch out.

BGSU vs PSU: This will be both teams best chance to get a win on Saturday, and nobody wants to go winless. Expect this to be an underrated game.

UK vs MSU: One of the three marquee matches of the Pool Play portion, the Wildcats and Spartans go toe to toe at 10 AM. This could be a battle of strength vs strength- the UK arms vs the State catchers.

MSU vs PSU: Big Ten rivals square off in Lexington as two of the premier Land Grant Institutions will try and pick up a crucial win.

UK vs BGSU: Bowling Green’s strength as a team is catching, they’ll need that to beat UK’s power arms, especially Wes Hopkins (UK #1).

PREDICTIONS:

(courtesy of Shadeed Drakeford)

Winner of Pool B: UK. Home-court advantage along with the fact that they play solid strategic dodgeball. Got the fastest arm in the country along with good leadership, they shouldn’t have problems in this bracket. That being said, they can’t overlook Michigan State at all.

Friday:

9:15 PM- Towson vs UWP, Kent vs CMU

Saturday:

8:45 AM- Kent vs Misc, CMU vs Towson

10:00 AM- Kent vs UWP

11:15 AM- Towson vs Misc

12:30 PM: CMU vs Misc

1:45 PM: UWP vs Misc

TEAM BREAKDOWN:

KENT STATE

-#1 (21-7-0)

-Led by Dan Shackelford and Camden Fullmer

-Biggest Win: Saginaw Valley

-Strength: Throwing. One of the fastest throwing teams in the league when they’re on, Kent has a group of solid power arms that can blast anyone.

-Weakness: First point. Kent has a hard time with the first point, and need to get woken up before they really get going.

-Impact Player: Mitch Malleo (Kent #8). Kent needs a third thrower to step up with Shackelford and Fullmer, and Malleo fits the bill.

-X-Factor: Blocking. Kent relies on blocking specific players more than any other team in the league, so keeping their blockers in play and out of the out line is crucial. With Jason Hallman’s graduation and Billy Cameron’s injury, this is a previous strength that could be a weakness at Nationals for the Flashes.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

-#8T (4-7-0)

-Led by Wes Peters, Brett Hadwin, and Bryce Corrion

-Biggest Win: Miami

-Strength: Catching. The Chips are one of the best catching teams in the league, and their three stars are all elite catchers. They can catch their way to victory against any team.

-Weakness: Power throwing. Outside of Corrion (CMU #00-A) the Chips have only a few power arms in their lineup.

-Impact Player: Bryce Corrion (CMU #00-A). He’s one of the top players in the league, if not the top player, when healthy. He’s got a great arm and can snag anything that comes his way.

-X-Factor: Will the Chips have a full 15? They’ve shown they can win with 10, but it’ll be hard to make a run with such a depleted roster.

TOWSON

-#9 (4-9-0)

-Led by Jonathan Shaw, Katie Polacheck, and Sean Smith

-Biggest Win: Maryland

-Strength: Counter Attack. The speedy Tigers have a great transition game and can eliminate opposing players while they’re backpedaling.

-Weakness: Catching. Outside of Shanice Parran (TU #9), Towson is limited in their catching abilities.

-Impact Player: Joe Tobin (TU #5). He has a rocket arm and his hits really get the Tigers rolling.

-X-Factor: Jordan Haxton (TU #3). Haxton’s blocking ability will be needed to protect the Towson power arms in the tournament.

WISCONSIN PLATTEVILLE

(no preview due to limited games played)

GAME BREAKDOWN:

Kent vs CMU: Kent beat CMU 5-0 in November at the MSU Invite, but that was a ten man Chippewa squad. If the Chips can bring a full 15, they could take a point or two just from pure catching alone, but I think the Kent firepower may be too much for Central to handle.

Towson vs UWP: These schools have never met, and it would realistically have taken Nationals for them to meet. UWP has some good arms, and Towson is more focused on their countering and arms as well. This should be an old fashioned slugfest.

Kent vs Misc: No word yet on whether or not the Miscellaneous team can actually accumulate wins, but even if they can I think Kent should handle them.

CMU vs Towson: Central has the best player in this game, and they’ll be able to catch the Tigers’ solo throws. However, Towson will undoubtedly have more depth, and if they win this game they’ll likely be 3-0 on Saturday. This game will be a great one to watch.

Kent vs UWP: Two teams relying on offensive throwing, this could be the worst matchup for Kent in their schedule. Kent State is still the favorite for this game, but don’t sleep on Wisconsin-Platteville.

Towson vs Misc: The Miscellaneous team should have some good players, but likely not any organization. Towson should be able to win this one.

CMU vs Misc: Central’s catching alone should win this game, but it’ll also be a good chance for them to build some momentum for Sunday.

UWP vs Misc: This would be the best chance I think for the Miscellaneous team to get a win, but I still don’t think they’ll have enough.

PREDICTIONS

(courtesy of Shadeed Drakeford, VCU)

Winner of Pool A: Kent State. Chances are Kent State is probably going 4-0 in this bracket. There is a chance (40-60%) that they will beat one opponent and not allow one point against them. It just depends on what they want to do.

If you took the draft picks as a cross-country meet, and scored them as such, here is what you’d get:

1. GVSU 53 (1, 2, 10, 40)
2. SVSU 75 (4, 5, 25, 41)
3. Kent 83 (3, 8, 27, 45)
4. DePaul 90 (13, 14, 29, 34)
5. JMU 96 (9, 24, 31, 32)
6. CMU 99 (6, 15, 21, 57)
7. MSU 107 (11, 16, 36, 44)
8. WKU 111 (18, 19, 23, 51)
9. UK 113 (12, 20, 28, 53)
10. MAD 129 (7, 26, 42, 54)
11. Towson 154 (17, 33, 48, 56)
12. PSU 193 (38, 43, 50, 62)
13. UWP 196 (22, 46, 63, 65)
14. OSU 200 (35, 49, 55, 61)
15. BGSU 207 (30, 52, 58, 67)
16. NSULA 210 (37, 47, 60, 66)
17. Miami (39, 59, 64, 68)

•  JMU was the first team to have all their players drafted. They also had all their players drafted before four teams had any of their players drafted.
• JMU also had the closest spread of players picked: only 23 picks separated pick #9 (Andrew Hassett) and pick #32 (Chris Hess).
• CMU had the biggest spread of players picked: 51 players were chosen between Bryce Corrion at #6 and Tyler Frank at #57.
• There were five teams (GVSU, SVSU, DePaul, JMU, and WKU) with back to back selections in the draft.
• The Brave Little Toasters have a player from every team at Nationals, and have all four players from OSU and UK.
• The Monstars have 8 current head captains, compared to the Brave Little Toasters’ 6.
• The Monstars have five of the eight eligible All-NCDA players from Nationals 2012, including NCDA MVP Spencer Jardine (SVSU #77). The Toasters have the other three.
• The Toasters have nine All Stars from 2012, the Monstars have five.

1. Dylan Fettig (GVSU)
2. Miles Shepard (SVSU)
3. Bryce Corrion (CMU)
4. Josh Sayre (Kent)
5. Kevin Bailey (GVSU)
6. Drew Greenawalt (UK)
7. Troy Dixon (DePaul)
8. Alex Acton (MSU)
9. Austin Dubree (WKU)
10. Eric Davenport (UK)
11. Alex Swedowski (UWP)
12. JD Gilliam (WKU)
13. Max Siler (SVSU)
14. Brandon Engleman (UK)
15. Jake Tripplett (BGSU)
16. Brett Ireland (JMU)
17. Jon Shaw (Towson)
18. Josh Laney (OSU)
19. Martreece Pennington (NSULA)
20. Sam Clark (Miami)
21. Grayson Hood (SVSU)
22. William Deutsch (PSU)
23. Ryan Hinman (Kent)
24. Eric Citizen (NSULA)
25. Dan Grainger (OSU)
26. Evan Bemus (WKU)
27. Tyler Harp (UK)
28. Jeff Starr (OSU)
29. Tyler Frank (CMU)
30. Rory Stitzlein (Miami)
31. Nick Fausnight (OSU)
32. Erik Zander (UWP)
33. Justin Hastings (UWP)
34. Josh Hartzell (BGSU)

THE MONSTARS:

1. Mark Trippiedi (GVSU)
2. Camden Fullmer (Kent)
3. Spencer Jardine (SVSU)
4. Ryan Pattison (MAD)
5. Andrew Hassett (JMU)
6. Mike Van Ermen (MSU)
7. Anthony Netzel (DePaul)
8. Brett Hadwin (CMU)
9. Joe Tobin (Towson)
10. Alex Sorrels (WKU)
11. Wes Peters (CMU)
12. Brett Gromer (JMU)
13. Luke Aubrey (MAD)
14. Mitch Malleo (Kent)
15. Brian Van Meter (DePaul)
16. Chris Hess (JMU)
17. Mario Romanelli (DePaul)
18. Kevin Miller (MSU)
19. James Klingemann (PSU)
20. Vince Bagget (GVSU)
21. Jake Ochoa (MAD)
22. Zach Bauer (MSU)
23. Alex Higbee (UWP)
24. Sean Smith (Towson)
25. John Malone (PSU)
26. Tyrell Smith (BGSU)
27. Amelio Lopez (MAD)
28. Trevor O’Loughlin (Towson)
29. Evan Freer (BGSU)
30. Caleb Strange (NSULA)
31. Kenneth Russ (PSU)
32. Jeff Jarrett (Miami)
33. Miles Brown (NSULA)
34. Steve Meyer (Miami)

However, the fun continues Sunday night, as Zac Brown of UK Dodgeball will release the schedule for Nationals live on Google+ and Youtube, and he will be joined by a group of NCDA veterans who will be breaking down the pools. It is tenatively scheduled for 9:30pm EST this Sunday!

Be sure to check them out if you’re interested!

Here is a sheet detailing who’s played who for the 2013 season. I’ve included the upcoming DePaul-Moody match. 

The left side (A:F) has results of the traditional Regions (based on past statistics and who’s played together), for those teams attending Nationals (17 teams: DePaul Kent OSU MSU GVSU UK BGSU SVSU WKU CMU UWP Miami NSU MAD JMU TU PSU)

The right hand side has some suggested regions:
H:J has regions if they were defined in 2012 Season terms

L:O redefines them purely based on the left side of the table (A:F)
BG has played mostly MI teams so would move to the MI region. JMU has played every region evenly (what a feat!). UK has played almost more Ohio teams than WKU, although they played WKU four times.

Q:S defines a Tri-Region setup, by chance reflecting the three original regions of the NCDA (MI, IL, OH from the first 5 founding members). In this set up, IL functions as the whipping boy it is during the regular season. This region could be used as a low tier, OH as a mid tier, MI as a high tier in terms of pool play. For the past two nationals the idea has been one blowout game, one evenly matched game, and one fun game. The Tri Region might work that way by using IL’s less competitive probability.

I could calculate another breakdown. I just need to know how many pools their needs to be, and I could use the pure seeds to group teams into pools where they get a fair breakdown, as much as possible. I could even produce the fairest matchups.

Note: NSU (or en-SU-la as some are calling it) have traditionally been put into the KY region, but they’ve played the other regions more in their three year history.
2010: WKU, OSU, KENT (KY OH OH)
2011: GV, OSU, DEPAUL, MSU (MI OH IL MI)
2012: DEPAUL, GV, BG, KENT (IL MI OH OH)
So they could be OH then MI>IL>KY

Penn State fits anywhere.

Check out your 2013 All Stars after the jump:

• Alex Swedowski (UWP #3)
• Alex Higbee (UWP #20)
• Justin Hastings (UWP #00)
• Erik Zander (UWP #93)
• Troy Dixon (DePaul #25)
• Anthony Netzel (DePaul #5)
• Brian Van Meter (DePaul #91)
• Mario Romanelli (DePaul #85)
• Sam Clark (Miami)
• Jeff Jarret (Miami)
• Rory Stitzlein (Miami)
• Steve Meyer (Miami)
• Max Siler (SVSU)
• Spencer Jardine (SVSU)
• Grayson Hood (SVSU)
• Myles Shepard (SVSU)
• Kevin Miller (MSU #46)
• Alex Acton (MSU #72)
• Mike Van Ermen (MSU #6)
• Zach Bauer (MSU #17)
• Joe Tobin (Towson #5)
• Jon Shaw (Towson #11)
• Sean Smith (Towson #19)
• Trevor O’Loughlin (Towson #1)
• Dan Grainger (OSU)
• Jeff Star (OSU)
• Nick Fausnight (OSU)
• Josh Laney (OSU)
• Mark Trippiedi (GVSU #8)
• Dylan Fettig (GVSU #24)
• Jeremy Stempky (GVSU #15)
• Kevin Bailey (GVSU #4)
• Marteece Pennington (NSULA)
• Eric Citizen (NSULA)
• Caleb Strange (NSULA)
• Miles Brown (NSULA)
• Camden Fullmer (Kent #13)
• Mitch Malleo (Kent #8)
• Josh Sayre (Kent #89)
• Dan Shackelford (Kent #33)
• Bryce Corrion (CMU)
• Brett Hadwin (CMU)
• Wes Peters (CMU)
• Tyler Frank (CMU)
• Alex Sorrels (WKU)
• Evan Bemus (WKU)
• JD GIllam (WKU)
• Johnny Thacker (WKU)
• Jake Ochoa (MAD #3)
• Luke Aubrey (MAD #13)
• Ryan Pattison (MAD #10)
• Amelio Lopez (MAD)
• Jake Triplett (BGSU)
• Tyrell Smith (BGSU)
• Evan Freer (BGSU)
• John Hartzell (BGSU)
• William Deutsch (PSU)
• John Malone (PSU)
• James Klingermann (PSU)
• Kenneth Russ (PSU)
• Brent Gromer (JMU #00)
• Chris Hess (JMU #5)
• Brett Ireland (JMU #20)
• Andrew Hassett (JMU #35)
• Brandon Engleman (UK #23)
• Drew Greenawalt (UK #37)
• Eric Davenport (UK #9)
• Tyler Harp (UK #11)

The captains of the two All Star teams are Felix Perrone (WKU) and Dan Shackelford (Kent) for the Brave Little Toasters, and Sam Hiller (MSU) and Zigmas Maloni (DePaul) for the Monstars.

The draft will take place Thursday night, as the 68 players will be split up evenly into two teams. Who would you take #1?