Last Saturday, the teams of University Nebraska- Lincoln, DePaul University, and University of Wisconsin- Platteville competed at the CDO also know as the DUI. Below are the results of the day.
DePaul def UNL 5-2
This was an interesting match to say the least. Both teams had to get the rust out of their systems as this was DePaul’s first games of the semester and Nebraska had an eight hour drive that was through an ice storm that they had to get through. In this match DePaul took control from the start, they were ready for what UNL had to throw at them and I think they channeled the anger they felt for the name change of the tournament into positive energy on the court. It was a slow start for UNL and by the time they figured things out and started balling it was too late.
UWP Def UNL 7-1
In this match up, the Cornhuskers came out strong and easily handled the Pioneers in the first point. UWP brought to this tournament four experienced players and the rest were freshmen. The captains Will Martin, Tim Ebert, and Louis Thompson did an excellent job keeping their cool and getting the freshmen to adjust their play. After that, Platteville had no problem communicating, blocking for each other, and getting those needed team throws in. They figured out how to attack UNL and did just that.
UWP def DePaul 5-1
This game started out very slow for Platteville and DePaul took advantage of this as they easily took the first point. From there, UWP made the adjustments and found a way to rally and take it to DePaul. They started cross throwing DePaul and started making catches like it was their job.
On several occasions, UWP was on the ropes down to 2-4 players to DePaul’s 10. The Pioneers kept their cool, made the catches and turned the tables every time. Give DePaul a lot of credit for how well they played in their first games back of the semester. If Platteville was not in a catching frenzy they would have easily beat UWP.
Thoughts
Jacob Bish #7- “I’m proud of the way my team performed at DePaul’s CDO. I’m glad we were able to make it up to Chicago and play DePaul on their
home turf. Unfortunately, we had our president get injured early in the day which left us with only 1 senior member on the court. You wouldn’t be able to tell though because all of our freshmen members stepped up and delivered their A game. I’ve seen this group of freshmen improve remarkably over these last two semesters, and I’m excited to see where they will take the Nebraska Dodgeball Club in the coming years.”
Louis Thompson #69 (Captain)- “I thought each team played quite well, the one that really stood out to me was UNL, I was not expecting them to put up as big of a fight as they did against us, especially the first couple of
points. For DePaul both #25 as well as #75 stood out for me because of their ability to get you out with a strong throw but then also by catching you. As for UNL, #7 and #6 are both players that I would keep an eye on at future tournaments. I think our team gained a lot of experience for our younger guys, as well as the realization that getting catches can completely change the outcome of a game. I would like for my team to continue to improve on our teamwork and make sure that we come out of the gate playing like we do after we have a couple warm-up matches under us.”
Sam Elsbernd #6- “About the Tournament – Showings from both Platteville and Nebraska brought a healthy competition to the tournament, with focus on University of Wisconsin-Platteville hoping to show their dominance, that they deserve to continue to be a top 10 team in the NCDA. Nebraska was able to barely field a full roster, and from what some of the players I were talking to told me, were missing some of their upper-classmen players. Nevertheless their performance was nothing less than
defiant, not only taking two points against DePaul, but following up that match with taking the first point against Platteville, giving them adequate trouble for the rest of the match. While my speculations can sometimes be exaggerated believe me when I say, if Nebraska can continue to foster their team’s growth and continue to make these big treks to actually face and adapt to other NCDA team’s play styles they will be top 15 by 2020, I guarantee you.
About the Players – Starting with DePaul. The one, the only, Alec “#NotMyPresident” Scott was a major driving force behind DePaul’s performance, is it the throw? Is it the beard? No one may never know. As for Nebraska (Don’t know his name so I will refer to him as #20); #20 seemed to be the major breadwinner for Nebraska during this tournament, consistently getting good, consistent throws against both DePaul and Platteville only to back them up with great catches.
Any other thoughts – ‘Twas a sad day for the court’s boundary lines due to udder disrespect for them from all participating teams, Nebraska and Platteville both racking up a total of 5 outs over the course of the tournament’s 3 games due to stepping over the throw line. DePaul on the other hand had the exact opposite problem, garnering 3 out of bounds outs from behind the baseline over their two games. If you ask me, perhaps the NCDA should look into the implementation and regulation of boundary collars for all players during matches.”
Final Thoughts
It was an exciting and fun day to say the least. All the teams gave it all that they had and made for a competitive tournament. For DePaul and UNL their next tournament will most likely be Nationals. For UWP, it will be @ GVSU this weekend, and possibly Kentucky’s tournament before heading into Nationals. All these teams are ready to travel to Virginia and pumped to play. Thanks for hosting DePaul, I had a good time!