Event Reviews

Cincinnati Super Smackdown Tournament Review

This year, the league is witnessing arguably some of the most balanced skill sets within the top 8 teams that it has ever seen. In a neck and neck dogfight for the top spot in the rankings, there has been quite some uncertainty on where to predict the final standings for each team. With 4 of these top 8 teams competing in this tournament, we were hoping to clear some of that uncertainty, but all we got was more of it.

Each Ohio team, coming off of their own respective dominant performances, was surely excited to play a hot MSU, who just celebrated a huge technical upset over GVSU. Mixed into these matchups are both UK and WMU, both competing in their season inducting tournament. As the league eagerly looked for the results of this tournament to shine some clarity on the true hierarchy of the league, the results this day struck an existential blow to the concept of clarity: Akron defeated MSU, MSU defeated OSU, OSU defeated UC, and UC defeated Akron and MSU. What do we take away from this? Are any of these teams the technical winner? The transitive property rests in an infinite loop, so we asked each team to give us their thoughts on each matchup to help us debug these results.

Cardinal Invitational Recap

Way back on November 20th, the Cardinal Invitational took place. With everyone very busy with the holiday weekend and preparing for finals, it took a little while to compile each team’s lasting thoughts for the tournament. We take a look at what leaders from (almost) every team had to say.

Saginaw Valley State Perspective:

Viking Clash Recap

On December 4, 2021 at the Viking Clash, four teams went head to head at the Cleveland State Recreational Center, three from Ohio and one from the Midway region. The teams that went head to head were: Cleveland State University (CSU), Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Kent State University (Kent) and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP). Let’s take a look at the results on the day.

Pioneer Classic & Cornhusker Clash Recap

In the Pioneer Classic and the Cornhusker Clash, the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) took to the courts to play back-to-back double headers to start their seasons. Below are the results:

Pioneer Classic:
Game 1: UNL def UWP 4-1
Game 2: UNL def UWP 3-2
Cornhusker Clash:
Game 1: UNL def UWP 4-1
Game 2: UNL def UWP 4-3 (OT)

2nd Annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza Tournament Review

The second annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza showed us where a lot of teams stand at this point in the season. With most teams having played a match throughout the league as of the conclusion of this weekend, I think we are finally starting to get a good picture for how each team compares to one another. While there are still a lot of lingering questions (IE – how does the majority of the East Coast stand up to the rest of the league? What does Michigan State look like? Is Towson still truly a top team in the NCDA? Are Grand Valley and Cincinnati actually that good?), we did get some real answers this weekend. Yes, Grand Valley is still a force to be reckoned with. Yes, Cincinnati is a legitimate title contender despite the loss to the aforementioned Lakers. Yes, the league is in overall good health with impressively large rookie classes for a lot of teams who hadn’t played prior to this weekend such as Ohio and Saginaw Valley.

What hasn’t been answered, however, is what each team thought about their own individual performances on the weekend. The participating Captains and Presidents minced no words when it comes to how they felt about their teams’ performances this past weekend. Here’s what they had to say:

Towson keeps control of East Coast after Maryland Madness

While there are no certainties in life, it is fair to say that coming off of the season and a half hiatus Towson was still likely to be the top team in the East Coast. After a few tournaments, including this previous weekend’s ‘Maryland Madness’ hosted by UMD, that remains the case. The rest of the East Coast has been anything but predictable, though.

Inaugural Southern Dodgeball Cup Recap

The following was written by Zach Rivera (GSU – Alumni)

Mar. 7, 2020 – Dahlonega, GA

Earlier this month, the University of North Georgia (UNG) hosted the University of Kentucky (UK) and Georgia Southern University (GSU) for the inaugural Southern Dodgeball Cup (SDC). Although the Southern Region of the NCDA is not as large as some of the other established regions in the league, this tournament showed just how competitive this region has become with some nail-biting matches that are sure to show the rest of the league what to expect from these Southern teams in the future. Below are the scores and outcomes from the tournament, and some thoughts on each matchup and how each team did overall:

Zanderthon Throw-Down 5 Recap

Last Saturday, marked another successful Zanderthon Throw-Down. The teams showed up and came to compete. The talent on these teams is better than every and they will be able to show it off in just over a month’s time. Here are the scores from the weekend.

The Viking Cup Recap

At the Viking Cup, several teams went head to head for some quality matches to prepare for nationals. Several of the games were close and tested teams’ ability to fight and go for the win. Below are the scores for the day and captain’s thoughts on the teams in attendance.

Match	Score	Winner
SVSU vs UWP	2-1	SVSU
WMU vs BSU	5-3	WMU
CSU vs SVSU	3-2	CSU
CSU vs UWP	4-3	CSU
UWP vs BSU	7-1	UWP
SVSU vs UK	5-2	SVSU
WMU vs UK	5-2	WMU
UK vs BSU	6-4	UK
CSU vs WMU	Forfeit	CSU

Pioneer Invitational Recap

At the Pioneer Invitational, UWP, DePaul, UNL, and SIUE competed to see who was the top team in the Midway conference. The games were highly competitive and entertaining to watch. The following are the results from Saturday:

UWP def SIUE (6-1)
UWP def DePaul (6-0)
UNL def SIUE (5-1)
UNL def DePaul (6-1)
Alumni def UWP (3-1)
SIUE def DePaul (7-0)
Alumni def SIUE (3-0)
UWP def UNL (2-1) OT

A quality tournament from a high quality bunch!

Grand Valley Gauntlet- Recap

Last weekend at the Grand Valley Gauntlet, three teams went head-to-head: GVSU, MSU, and UWP. They made for some good games and gave us a look at what to expect for the rest of the season. The following were the scores and thoughts from the day:

GVSU def UWP 10-0
GVSU def MSU 3-1
UWP def GVSU B 7-0
MSU def UWP 7-0
Alumni def GVSU 3-2 (OT)

Cornhusker Clash Recap

Last Saturday, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) went head to head in a double header with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Both games were highly competitive and both sides showcased their talent. In the end, Platteville was able to take the wins in both matches. The scores were UWP def UNL 3-2 and UWP def UNL 4-2. Here are my thoughts and what some of the players had to say about the day.

Tim Ebert Memorial Dodgeball Tournament

Last Saturday, August 10, the Platteville Dodgeball Club hosted the first annual Tim Ebert Memorial Dodgeball tournament. In total, there were eight teams that competed in the round robin tournament followed by an elimination bracket.

Nationals Send-Off Tournament Recap

The following was written by Jeremy Brown:

GVSU Still the Best, Towson Not Far Off

This past Saturday, #2 Towson played host to #1 Grand Valley State and #3 James Madison in what was sure to be an intense final tournament before Nationals. This tournament did not disappoint, with each team providing a clearer image of what to expect at Grand Valley in just a few short weeks. For the purposes of this article, I want to first do a brief breakdown of each game before taking time to look at what this tournament means for Nationals. Let’s get started.

Zanderthon Throw-Down Recap

Last Saturday, February 23, 2019, these teams competed and battled it out at the Zanderthon Throw-Down: Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSULA), University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP), DePaul University, and the Alumni. The games went as expected and I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time! We made new friends and introduced a lot of newcomers to the sport. Below are the scores for the day and a quick recap: