At the midpoint of the 2025–26 season, the East Coast dodgeball race is anything but settled. James Madison still sits on top, but a surging Virginia squad, a desperate Maryland team, and looming postseason pressure have turned what once felt inevitable into a wide-open fight. With February inching closer, every point, catch, and comeback is starting to matter just a little bit more.
James Madison
Just as in years past, James Madison finds itself atop the East Coast standings at the midpoint of the 2025-2026 season. Yet this year’s regional competition seems more threatening to JMU’s East Coast Dodgeball Cup repeat bid than ever before. That’s not to say the Dukes are out of it by any means – their only regional loss this year is to upstarts UVA, a team they thrashed 5-1 in the season opener. Sophomore captain JW Harrington has been a huge bright spot for JMU throughout the season, including an incredible 1v3 comeback win against Maryland in the season opener, and Ryan Pendleton has converted JMU dodgeball from a group of individual arms to a cohesive unit that still packs the same firepower. Their only other loss is to the #1-ranked powerhouse Ohio State, and the Dukes have picked up convincing results against other Ohio Region competition. They’ll hope to translate that success into another East Coast Championship in February.
Virginia
The Hoos have a lot to look forward to in the spring of 2026. For the first time ever, Charlottesville will host ECDC–and the Cavaliers have been undefeated at home since the start of last season. UVA’s roster is chock-full of veteran talent (they’ll graduate five Seniors in May), but its standout player has undoubtedly been Junior Ben Wu. The left corner brings an incredibly fast windup and an even faster throw to a Wahoo roster that can sorely lack arm talent at times. Without Wu, UVA is a completely different team: he helped them avenge their 5-1 loss to JMU in College Park with an emphatic 3-2 win at the Cavalier Clash a month later. This team still hasn’t been tested outside of their region, however. They’ll get that chance at Beast at the end of the month, but a lack of exposure throughout the year could hurt them come postseason play. If there’s any year for the Hoos to hoist their first regional cup, it’s this one. UVA is still looking to avenge its overtime loss to JMU in last year’s ECDC final; they’ll count on their veteran leadership to take them there.
Maryland
What’s wrong with the Terrapins? 24th-ranked Maryland has yet to win a game this year, and has only scored 3 or more points in two performances (both against out-of-region competition). They’ve still been competitive, including taking JMU to overtime in their opening match in September (an overtime where the Terps were up 3-1), but they haven’t been able to translate strong performances from players like Julian Kim and Adam Butz into wins. Butz has an arm equal to any in the league, but often UMD seems lost when he’s off the court, allowing opponents to focus huge pressure on that side of the court. Kim, in his own right, has been a vacuum and consistently hits high catch numbers for the Terps. If Maryland wants to right the ship and contend for the regional cup, they need to capitalize on their opportunities and play mistake-free dodgeball–but even that might not be enough.