2013-14 Season Preview: University of Kentucky

The 2012-13 Season ended poorly for the Kentucky Wildcats last year, losing in the semifinals to Grand Valley. After spending most of the season ranked #2 in the nation, expectations had been high, but a grueling match against Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the elimination match drained Kentucky’s players for the next match. Recently, Kentucky’s new captain, Jon Firquin, sat down to give me his thoughts on nationals, and what he expects to happen this year.

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2013-2014 Season Preview: DePaul Dodgeball Society

The DePaul Dodgeball Society is one of the eldest teams in the NCDA. Since being founded in 2000, their campaign has always been to show the league why they’re “undefeated.” Finishing with an overall record of 3-8-0 (#12 in the standings) last season, DePaul will look to build on that with more victories this season while maintaining the essence of what makes this team unique. I sat down with a former teammate and current DePaul co-captain to discuss the upcoming season and have a few laughs about the club. Continue reading “2013-2014 Season Preview: DePaul Dodgeball Society”

JMU Dodgeball 2013-14 Season Preview

In their second year as an NCDA member, the JMU Dukes proved that they are far from a one-hit wonder. Playing in and travelling to a plethora of matches, they did not just establish themselves as the top team in the East Coast, but across the entire league. I recently talked with the clubs new president Ben Sizemore to ask him about what to expect in the team’s future, topics about their past, and a few other items.

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Season Preview: Grand Valley State University

The Grand Valley State Lakers went 16-2 last year en route to their National Championship. The NCDA hasn’t had a repeat champion since 2009-2010 GVSU. This year Grand Valley State looks to repeat again while they overcome a change of leadership, and strong NCDA competition.

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Continuing Success: GVSU in the Ultimate Dodgeball Tournament

I’m sure most of you have heard by now that Grand Valley State is a really good dodgeball team. I know, shocker right? Well, not only are they dominant in the league, but they can go outside of the NCDA and continue their domination. Continue reading “Continuing Success: GVSU in the Ultimate Dodgeball Tournament”

BOTM: 2013 August

Wes Peters [CMU #27-C]

Wes has done a lot of things throughout his career at Central Michigan. He started off as a relative nobody his first season, a little overshadowed by the superstars that CMU had. Still, he won a NCDA National Championship that year at Nationals 2011. Central was the favorite heading into the 2011-2012 season, and despite not playing many games that year, teams started talking about CMU’s amazing catchers in Wes Peters and Brett Hadwin. The two were seemingly tied together with every discussion of great catchers in the league, but they both were proving to become top tier catchers. Wes tore his ACL in the spring of 2012, but not only played, but played well, on one leg at Nationals 2012.  Continue reading “BOTM: 2013 August”

NCDAers Team Up For the Dodgeball World Championships

The National Dodgeball League is hosting the 2013 Dodgeball World Championship in Las Vegas, NV. This is the 10th tournament, and it will feature numerous individual tournaments within the Championship. It also will feature the entire regular season of the NDL. The NDL has a different ruleset than the NCDA, but it’s not too different to the point where the NCDAers will be fish out of water when they play.

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NCDA Teams Fare Well in Ultimate Dodgeball Qualifiers

Three NCDA teams sent players to the Ultimate Dodgeball Qualifiers at Skyzones across the country this past weekend, and two of them won! Grand Valley and Western Kentucky both won their local qualifiers, which means they will be waiting to hear back to see if they qualified for the Las Vegas Finals. Rochester Institute of Technology also competed, but finished second in their qualifier. You can check out my previous post on the tournament here.

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BOTM: 2013 July

Jonathan Shaw (TU #11-C)

Jon was a bright spot for a Tigers squad that was one of the most talked about teams, despite missing some of it’s key weapons at Nationals 2013. He leads not just through his words, but his play, and he’s got Towson on the right path towards becoming a dominant team on the East Coast. Shaw was an All-Star for the Brave Little Toasters at Nationals 2013, and also made the All-NCDA second team. With those personal credentials and the fact that he’s guided Towson to a Top 10 finish in just their second NCDA season, Jon definitely is a Baller to watch for in 2013-2014.  Continue reading “BOTM: 2013 July”