This tournament will be a huge accomplishment for the Central Region as it officially debuts the University of Iowa! This event allows the Central region teams like University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP) (and hopefully more teams in the future) to meet up without having to drive so far. Below are the previews and the schedule for this event!
Iowa
While this event isn’t the first time the team has participated in tournaments, this is the first NCDA tournament they have signed up for–some of their players have experience in the NDA format. Since the summer, the team has grown to a staggering seventeen players signed up to play at their home tournament! And they will have a long day with three games total, and they will have the opportunity to play both NCDA teams as well as the UWP B team. Their number one job during this tournament is to expose all their new recruits to the NCDA tournament environment and to further develop their game strategy. They also have a few women who will get to participate in the no-sting game at the end of the day.
UNL
This event is most fortunate for UNL as they travel the furthest distance of any team in the NCDA; in fact, they look forward to a nearly fourteen hour drive to this season’s national tournament. They will have a much shorter drive to this event at around four and a half hours, and in tow they will bring a squad of eighteen players with their women being able to participate in the no-sting match too. Their main goal is to win their games to stay at the top of the Central Region rankings while still allowing their rookies to further plant their feet on the court.
UWP
Platteville wants to play in every tournament reasonably possible this season, and nearby events such as this are such a blessing for the team. They too (along with the other Wisconsin teams and now Iowa) are expected to travel a great distance to play in a much smaller amount of tournaments than their Michigan or Ohio opponents. They will be bringing twenty three players, some of who will be playing on the UWP B team much like the Pioneer Classic VI tournament in early November. This ensures that each player gets adequate experience as they continue to grow as individuals and as a team.
Tune in on the UW-Platteville Dodgeball YouTube channel for the live streaming of the event! Be sure to subscribe to get notifications when they go live!