NCDA – Page 18 – National Collegiate Dodgeball Association

The War V Recap

We expected a weekend full of quality dodgeball as Akron hosted their 5th annual iteration of The War. What we witnessed, however, was frankly a lot of lopsided matches. Certain teams we anticipated to have great performances came in as advertised. Others left a lot to be desired, and will hope to bounce back strong if they play again before Nationals, or else they will be chewing on those hard truths about the way their team played for the next 5 weeks.

With that being said, there is a lot to unwrap, and a lot to be said about what we saw from each team, whether they performed well, poorly, or somewhere in between. Let’s go team by team and evaluate what we saw.

Baller of the Month January 2022: Tony Stumpo

As has traditionally been the case with the NCDA’s Baller of the Month Award, January is awarded to an alumni player that is making an impact in the sport.

This year, we recognize former Michigan State player and current member of Grand Rapids Kraken: Tony Stumpo. Stumpo has continued to play the sport outside of the NCDA, and has given back greatly to the league as a notable commentator. In 2022 alone, Stumpo has been on the livestream commentating games at the Grand Valley Gauntlet (January) and Michigan Dodgeball Cup (February).

Check out the full interview above with our January Alumni Baller of the Month!

A League of Our Own – Anna Moellenbeck

Dodgettes Navigating a New League

With the 2022 semester in full swing, one thing can be said for certain about the college dodgeball atmosphere: we are amidst an entirely new league. After practices came to an abrupt end almost two years ago, college dodgeball returned last fall, and with it came an exciting season of close matches, upsets, rookies, and of course, dodgettes (Shout-out to Akron University’s female players for coining the new term).

This article continues to highlight dodgettes across the league: December 2021 graduates, pre-COVID veterans, and new recruits. Stay tuned to hear how they made their name in the league and what they are looking forward to this year; in other words, dodgettes navigating a new league.

Standings as of 2022-03-01

In the 2022 Season, we have 29 technical upsets in 112 ranked matches (74.11% success rate) across 17 events.

The Gonzalez System is a computer ranking model similar to Elo and is a rating exchange system based on research performed by World Rugby. It has been adapted by the NCDA to the demands of College Dodgeball, but can be tuned and customized endlessly to incorporate accurate data. It has been used to help determine seeds for the Nationals bracket since Nationals 2014, and was used exclusively for each Nationals bracket since 2017.

Zanderthon Throw-Down Recap

This past weekend, the sixth annual Zanderthon Throw-Down took place between the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP). We also got to see UWP alumni in action. The following were the scores for the day.
UNL def UWP 4-0.
Alumni def UWP 4-2
Alumni def UNL 5-0
UWP def UNL 3-2 (OT)

Previewing The War V

There are a good number of tournaments that our league presents every year, like clockwork. There’s Nationals, of course. That and the Michigan Dodgeball Cup are the two longest running annual tournaments our league boasts. After that comes the Ohio Dodgeball Cup and James Madison’s annual BEAST tournament (by the way, the weekend of March 5th marks the TENTH edition of the BEAST… Unbelievable, but more on that later). This weekend, another yearly event returns to the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association in our post-COVID era. That tournament is of course Akron’s The War V.

This year makes the 5th consecutive (again, COVID not withstanding) year this tournament will be held in Akron, Ohio. This weekend there will be 11 teams in attendance playing 20 matches, 3rd most all time for both, and most since 2019 where at The War III there were a remarkable 15 teams playing 26 matches. By the way, fun fact, The War III’s 26 matches are exactly how many matches have been played total thus far this semester. Finally, each of the 11 teams competing this weekend have played in at least one War prior to 2022.

This weekend is going to be a thrilling one that I would be absolutely sure not to miss. This 11 team tournament will be by far the biggest we’ve had all year long. In attendance will be host school Akron, Bowling Green State, Cincinnati, Cleveland State, Grand Valley State, Miami, Ohio, Ohio State, Saginaw Valley State, Towson, and Wisconsin-Platteville. These teams will compete in an insane amount of thrilling, Nationals Elite 8 quality matchups.

I hope you aren’t tired of random historical War facts, because we’re going to break down each team’s individual performances in past War’s statistically, and give a bit of a preview for what their performance could look like this weekend. Let’s start with the host school, Akron.

Pages: 12

A League of Our Own – Robyn MacDonald

Dodgettes Navigating a New League

As the 2022 semester kicks off, one thing can be said for certain about the college dodgeball atmosphere: we are amidst an entirely new league. After practices came to an abrupt end almost two years ago, college dodgeball returned last fall, and with it came an exciting season of close matches, upsets, rookies, and of course, dodgettes (Shout-out to Akron University’s female players for coining the new term).

This article series highlights dodgettes across the league: December 2021 graduates, pre-COVID veterans, and new recruits. Stay tuned to hear how they made their name in the league and what they are looking forward to this year; in other words, dodgettes navigating a new league.

Pages: 12

Standings as of 2022-02-23

In the 2022 Season, we have 27 technical upsets in 92 ranked matches (70.65% success rate) across 16 events.

Baller of the Month December 2021: Derrek Kemper

The long wait is over! Derrek Kemper of THE Ohio State University is your Baller of the Month for December. The Rookie sensation for the Buckeyes is a Power house thrower, and already has the catching ability and court awareness of a multi-year veteran. Derrek has proven himself to be a huge asset to the talented Buckeye roster thus far. We talked all things Dodgeball, including his go-to tournament meals!

Pages: 12

Zanderthon Throw-Down

The Midway Conference kicks off their second half of the season with the Annual Zanderthon Throw-Down on February 19th. This will mark the sixth one in its history! It will once again feature the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP) and several UWP alumni. The schedule for this Saturday’s event is as follows.

Standings as of 2022-02-16

In the 2022 Season, we have 26 technical upsets in 90 ranked matches (71.11% success rate) across 15 events.

Improbable Comeback Gives Michigan State First Michigan Dodgeball Cup Title since 2005

May be an image of 6 people and people standing

17 years.

That’s how long it had been since the last time Michigan State University’s dodgeball club members could call themselves Michigan Dodgeball Cup Champions. 17 years of heartbreak. 17 years of what-ifs. 17 years of being the butt of jokes from rival Michigan teams when February rolled around.

What started as a two-team event highlighting the rivalry between Michigan State and Delta College, turned into arguably the most historic regular season event in collegiate dodgeball. Back in 2005, when the Spartans were victorious over Delta College by a score of 8-3 in the Inaugural Michigan Dodgeball Cup, nobody could’ve foreseen the suffering the program would go through at this particular event over the next 17 years.

Standings as of 2022-02-11

In the 2022 Season, we have 25 technical upsets in 84 ranked matches (70.24% success rate) across 14 events.

2022 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

2015 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview – NCDA

This Saturday, Michigan State University will host three other schools in the annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup. In attendance will be Grand Valley State (8-1), Michigan State (5-3), Saginaw Valley State (2-7), and Western Michigan (0-3). Missing from the MDC for the first time since 2007 (prior to their club’s existence) is Central Michigan University.

While eyes will be on the CMU club to see if they can rebuild their program and get back to competition, let’s shift our attention back to the four teams in attendance. To start, here is the schedule for the 2022 MDC, which will be livestreamed on the NCDA’s social channels this Saturday, starting at 10:00 AM.