Summit Street Slugfest VII Recap

This past weekend saw the completion of what will likely be the largest pre-nationals tournament of the semester. Don’t worry if you missed any action because we’ve got you covered with a full recap below.

By Ethan Lehmkuhl (OSU) and Rylan Close (Kent)

Ohio State

Ohio State came out of the blocks HOT to open the day against MSU. The Buckeyes jumped out to a 3-0 at halftime before securing the first point of the second half to get to a running clock. Ohio State subsequently got some of their subs in and cruised to close out the game out by a score of 4-2. The next game was a very different story for OSU. They came out slow versus JMU and saw themselves go down 3-1 with about 11 minutes left in the game. That’s when the switch flipped… and it was all Buckeyes from that point forward. The match would end up going to OT after OSU picked up two quick points to close regulation. The overtime period was a perfect sweep for OSU as they improved to 2-0 on the day. The final match of OSU’s day came against Kent State. This was a valuable game for many Buckeyes to rotate in and gain experience as they won comfortably by a score of 4-2. It is hard to point out any one person as a standout performer on the day with the roster as deep as it is, but I will shout out Chance Preece and Colson Bunch once again for making their way into the Overtime 6 at this tournament. Keep an eye out for these 2 rookies down the road.

Michigan State

Michigan State started the day with a disappointing 4-2 loss to the aforementioned Buckeyes. MSU proved to be slightly top-heavy, and guy for guy, MSU could not match up with OSU. This gap showed especially when the Spartans’ top 2 were on the outline. MSU turned their day around though with two big wins over JMU and UC. The MSU versus JMU game was very back-and-forth, with JMU taking an extremely clutch point before halftime to tie the game at 2 apiece (if you did not watch this live seriously go check it out on Cleveland State Dodgeball YT). Once the game got into OT it was all Spartans, as they pulled away to win 4-3. MSU finished their day off with a 3-1 win over Cincinnati, maintaining a perfect record against the Bearcats this season.

Ohio

Ohio posted an impressive 3-0 day at Kent, catapulting themselves to the #7 rank in the NCDA standings. Ohio was also wearing some brand new threads at this tournament, which I was personally a fan of. OU played BGSU a little closer than one might have expected, and the score versus Akron is a little closer on paper than what the game actually showed. While the Bobcat’s schedule wasn’t as tough as other teams at the tournament, you can’t knock a 3-0 performance. If OU can keep momentum going into their next couple of tournaments, expect them to be a final-four caliber team come April.

Cincinnati

Cincinnati was without key starters Will Hyatt, Isaiah Montgomery, and Tyler Shaffer. Also missing was coach Wes Peters (some spectators noted how calm the event seemed in his absence). Despite this, UC was able to notch a 2-1 day against a very tough schedule. Anyone watching the Bearcats could tell you Matthew Rosinksi is the heart and soul of this team. Not only is he a vocal leader, but he is a playmaking leader as well. Cincinnati will travel to JMU’s BEAST tournament in a week’s time. It will be interesting to see if they can knock off JMU again, this time on their home turf.

JMU

With this tough of schedule for such a volatile team, I don’t think any result from JMU could have shocked people, even themselves. Three losses by a combined 3 points is obviously not ideal, but in the words of captain Trent Shaffer, “We proved we’re a contender”. JMU rides momentum well and when they have it, they are nearly unbeatable. With some strategy implementation between now and April, it wouldn’t shock me to see the Dukes make another final-four run. Some notable players for JMU include Joel Froyen, who did a nice job holding down the right side with Trent, and Patrick Schwab who was seen playing the left side in Noah Conyers’s absence. As mentioned, JMU is hosting their annual BEAST tournament on 2/10. Everyone knows that JMU has a distinct home-court advantage, so no doubt that will be a fun watch.

Penn State

Penn State got off to a slow start with a loss to Akron in a game that saw captain Cloud Tapia-Manon go down to injury. They were able to bounce back though and dominate their next two matches. For traveling out of their region, I would have liked to see the Nittany Lions get a little bit tougher of a schedule, but there is no doubt they will play 3 tough games in a week at JMU’s BEAST tournament. They will need to win some big games there if they want to get back above .500 and jump back into the NCDA top 10.

Kent State

Kent State had a pretty successful home tournament, going 2-1 on the day while playing top-ranked Ohio State pretty close and notching a key win against BGSU after their loss at The Tyler Webb Memorial Tournament. Jacob Florentine looked like an All-Star all day with his lightning-quick counters. Despite the losses of Branden Stevens and Natalie Quarry to injury, the Flashes looked as sharp as ever. Between their games against OSU and MSU, they’ve shown that they can hang with top-end talent consistently, but have yet to get over the hump and knock off a top 5 team. The good news is that this team is still very young, and has played the most games out of any school so far this season. If they keep holding onto that experience and improving as a team they can be a real force in the next few seasons.

Bowling Green State

Summit Street Slugfest was a pretty brutal tournament for BGSU. Losing two very close games to Ohio rival schools before falling handily to Penn State. The day wasn’t without positives, as key players like Evan Maynard and Josh Boyers looked strong all day. But the Falcons looked deflated after their first two games. BGSU is fully capable of hanging with other Ohio talent, and will likely show a much better performance at ODC when the time comes. However, they’ll need to regroup and focus on their strengths to do it.

Cleveland State

Cleveland State still finds itself focusing on developing its young core of talent. The Vikings have some promising rookies, such as Daqoine Lamar or Kishan Reddy. If they can find a way to keep recruiting talent and building up arms, they’ll be able to compete in the Ohio region soon. The leadership core of Sky Thornsberry, William McCartney, and Kathryn Mays have been great all season long. They just need the rest of the young core to fall into place.

Akron

An overall disappointing day for Akron, as they ended up 1-2 after a pretty hot start against PSU. The Zips were able to hang around with UC until the second half when the Bearcats ran away with the game. Then they dropped a key Ohio-region loss to the Bobcats 3-4. Akron is still a team to take seriously going into the late stages of the season, as they have no shortage of talent from top to bottom. The problem just seems to be their lack of cohesion when things start to get tense. They are very quick to get frustrated when a few points start going south. That being said, getting back Matt Young for the rest of the season is going to be huge for the leadership of this team. Players such as Carter Crawford and Cooper Sites are going to be very important for this team going forward as well.