We are back at again this weekend with a big doubleheader happening in the newly formed Central Region (previously Midway and South). This clash is between the top teams in the region: University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP). The games will be played in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Nebraska Coliseum. Every year Nebraska hosts the Cornhusker Clash and every year it becomes an even bigger battle. These games are always close and tend to go into overtime. Last year, UNL got the best of UWP in games they played, putting up a 5-1 record in the matchup, only losing the last game in OT to the Pioneers. Will this year repeat last year with another OT match at this event? Let’s take a look at the schedule below and see what the captains think heading into this weekend.
The following are the questions I asked of the captains going into the double header.
Erik Zander– What do you want to see out of your team this weekend?
UWP Captains– We want to see our team play within our system. We believe we have a good plan to succeed, and we want to stick with it. That being said, we also need to make adjustments throughout the matches. We hope to play fast while still maintaining control.
Tre Sumrall (UNL)– The main thing I want to see from our team is just overall them having fun. We really try and push the fact that we are here to compete, but we also just want to enjoy playing dodgeball with friends and having some fun.
EZ-What do you think it will take to get the wins?
UWP Captains-Communication and discipline are the biggest keys to success. UNL has the ability to capitalize on any mistakes that their opponents make. Effective communication will minimize our mistakes and be the key to success. UNL is one of the best teams at keeping ball control through points, so our discipline will also need to be at an all time high.
TS-I think our biggest thing we need to do in order to win the doubleheader is just make sure we communicate with each other. We know that we have the catching and throwing to beat any team, we just need to make sure we can communicate effectively.
EZ-What are you expectations for your rookies this weekend?
UWP Captains-We expect our rookies to have fun. Annie Larson and Dylan Fabry are two of our rookies that we expect to show out at this tournament. Annie’s ability to catch will be a great asset to our team this weekend, and Dylan’s throw, while open palm, is still very powerful. As for all the other rookies, we expect them to constantly look for catches as well as always looking to block for everyone on the team.
TS– I don’t really have any expectations for the rookies. Since we have two teams we should be able to have everyone play, which is all I want to see. Since it is all of their first times playing in an actual match against someone other than our team, I just hope they can adjust fast enough and have fun.
My thoughts– To me, I think this is going to be some exciting matchups. I think that both teams are very experienced and their talent and understanding of the game is even better than last year, which means that both teams are going to have to work even harder to get each other out and get those catches. For UNL, they have been having big numbers at practice with enough to have a b-team. They should have a lot of talent to choose from when it comes to playing UWP. UNL will continue to ride off of last year and look to prove again that they are the top team in the region. Expect them to be disciplined, keep to their style, and look for catches all day to get the wins. In the case of UWP, they want to show that the wins at the RedHawk Classic were no fluke and that they are playing great dodgeball. This team is playing even better as a unit this year and are putting in the work to win. You can expect the Pioneers to be much better prepared for UNL and come out fast and hard to get those wins.
Make sure to tune into watch the games live. They will be streamed on the UW-Platteville Dodgeball. Make sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel!