Winona – NCDA

Central Region Women’s 2026 Season Recap

The past few seasons have gifted the central region with significant growth in its women’s teams. University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign (UIUC) got the ball rolling by participating in the first ever women’s national tournament, and University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) was quick to follow by forming their own team to compete the following year. Now the central region has three official women’s teams, the third being University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), who were unable to attend nationals this year. Now, at the end of the 2026 season, there are three more schools who have a chance at forming teams and joining the women’s league. This is huge! The women’s league has been dominated by Michigan State University and University of Akron since its debut, so seeing the league branch out of the Ohio/Michigan region into the central region is very exciting to be a part of. Let’s take a look at how the women of the central region did this season!

Central Region 2026 Season Recap

Compared to previous seasons, the Central region made leaps and bounds in terms of progress and growth. Not only did rookie team Iowa host their first official tournament, they also sent ambassadors to this years national tournament in Athens, OH, AND they hosted the first ever Central Region Cup. The number of teams currently in the Central region–six official and four prospective–makes them the second largest region in the league, right behind the Ohio region with eight teams.

Blugold Invitational II Preview

UW-Eau Claire will be hosting their second tournament of the season on Saturday, March 28th, which will be the last central region event of the season. Those expected to attend are close rivals, UW-Platteville, with less than a week of rest from the last tournament they played in, and a large mixed team consisting of players from several schools–UW-Stout, UW-La Crosse, UW-Steven’s Point, UW-River Falls, and Winona State University. These teams are potential candidates for future growth in the central region, and these nearby tournaments allow them to get a feel for the league and hopefully feel encouraged to form their own teams. This tournament will bring the central region season to a close, so let’s see what these teams and players have left in them before nationals.

Winona State University Dodgeball Tournament

Zanderthon Throw-Down X Recap

The annual Zanderthon Throw-Down took place on February 21st at the University of Wisconsin Platteville. This event had the following teams represented: Platteville, Illinois, Stout, Eau Claire, Nebraska, Winona State, River Falls, La Crosse, Stevens Point, Iowa, and UWP alumni. This was one the biggest events ever held in the central region. In previous years, the Zanderthon Throw-Down was just between UWP and UNL and just last year it was UWP vs UIUC. It show cased a total of ten teams. Six current member teams and four upcoming teams with the potential of joining the league this semester.

We also had two women’s matches on the day and added another team to the women’s standings with UNL having their first official match as a club! There were a lot of exciting matches with a few overtimes. Let’s take a look at the results and hear some thoughts from players on the day. Pictures below were taken by Emily Diekmann.

Zanderthon Throw-Down X Preview

Platteville will be hosting the 10th annual Zanderthon Throw-Down on February 21st. The teams in attendance will be the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP), the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), the University of Iowa, Winona State University (WSU), University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC), the University of Wisconsin Stout (UWS), University of Wisconsin Eau Claire (UWEC), upcoming Wisconsin schools, and alumni. This weekend will mark one of the biggest events to date for this region and for a lot of players in attendance, this is going to be their first experience playing college dodgeball. Let’s take a look at the teams and the schedule below.