It was an exciting weekend for the Central Region as March 7th was the first official Central Region Cup! UNL, UIUC,UWP, and Iowa met up in Iowa City at the University of Iowa to compete for the Central Region Championship. Each game was intense, and each team fought hard for every point scored. In the end, UNL came out on top with an incredible 3-0 record, making their overall win-loss 13-0! Let’s see how each team did.
UNL (3-0)
UNL only gave up one point over the course of the day, and it was unexpectedly taken by Iowa. Otherwise, they scored a lot on each opponent–8 points on Iowa, and 6 points on both UWP and UIUC. All their games were played with intensity and a palpable pride for their talent and commitment to the sport. Nebraska is a team that knows its worth, but they don’t gloat or shame other teams for not being at the same level. They play every game with the intent to win, and they will never play down to any team. The women’s team were even able to participate in a mixed match against some of Platteville’s guys with the help of UWP’s alumni, Kate Douglas! They didn’t have a full team at this event (only three women could make it), but both Coach Erik Zander and Coach Tre Sumrall wanted to make sure they could get another no-sting game under their belts this season. Their last game was at the Zanderthon Throw-Down X back in February where they lost to UWP, but the improvement they displayed was impressive to say the least. They displayed an increased knowledge of the game and strategies required to play, and their overall teamwork and cooperation improved a lot in just a few weeks. There isn’t much to say about the top team in the region that hasn’t already been said, so let’s see what their coach has to say about them.
We asked UNL’s coach, Tre Sumrall, what he thought about the tournament and how his team did. Here is his response: “I think our team played the best tournament we have had all year. Normally I’m pretty in their ears about what I am seeing on the court to improve, but they really handled themselves well. We have put in a lot of practice making sure that when we throw that we throw with intent, and that helped us out a bunch in our games against Platteville and Illinois. We have a team that is essentially half rookies, and it has been a large learning curve for them, but I think they have it figured out now and were super excited to bring home the cup. As for the cup itself, that trophy is 7 years in the making for me, and with how much work I have personally put in to this team over the last 7 years, whether it was keeping the club alive during Covid, or teaching all of these young dodgeball players how to function on the court, it has all been worth it now that we have some hardware to back up our success. Another big shoutout goes to the leadership of this team on the court. They have grown so much since the disappointing end we had to last year, and they are really pushing to make a run at nationals. With only one graduating senior, who is going to be coming back for his masters degree, we are coming back at full strength going in to next year and I think we have a great chance at winning it all.”
UIUC (1-2)
This tournament was an unusual challenge for Illinois, and it was the first time they’ve lost to UWP since their team’s rookie season. It was also unusual for them to not score a single point on UNL. Over the approximately two previous seasons, UNL and UIUC have fought on a relatively equal level of skill and intensity, and they usually left their matches scoring a similar number of points. This time was a different. UIUC went 0-6 against UNL and 3-2 against UWP. Although they went 1-2 on the day, they only brought a team of thirteen players which put a larger burden on each individual to play harder for longer. While this one tournament didn’t go quite as well as previous ones, their record of success shouldn’t deter them nor their fans from expecting great things from them this nationals season. They have strong leadership, strong on-court chemistry, and they are a team that likes and wants to win. Their performance at the region cup shouldn’t change the way their opponents should look at them; they are still a team that can execute great plays and awesome moments.
Their women played another official match against UWP which they also won. They last played each other at the Spartan Smackdown Tournament at MSU where they went 2-1, but this time they won 4-3. Both teams had fewer players at this event, so it was interesting to see the scores differ so greatly. In the end, their players were able to keep Platteville cornered and under pressure to secure the win over them again.
UWP (2-1)
This was most likely Platteville’s most successful tournament of the year so far. They earned two wins–one against Iowa and the other against Illinois–which boosted their number of games won this season to three. Their performance this weekend helped boost their rank four places, putting them at number 17 overall. They almost had a full roster–just one player short–and this benefitted them greatly. Not only did it allow the starting players a bit of rest throughout the day, but it allowed the rookies to get some good experience. They ended up going 9-0 against Iowa which was rather cathartic considering their loss against UNL and almost-loss against UIUC. What did UWP in against UNL and almost UIUC was their reluctance to retreat back to their baseline after attacking. Both teams (UNL and UIUC) can confidently make reset thrown from their backline which throws a wrench into Platteville’s strategy and prevents them from setting up any meaningful attacks. Platteville doesn’t do well stuck at the attack line, and it forces them to rely on less effective often unpracticed strategies like cross-throwing and throwing from the middle of the line. The women’s match didn’t go the way they’d hope when they lost against UIUC for a second time this season. Everyone was tired, and their strategy started to crumble as the mental strain continued to increase. Luckily, they should have at least one more chance to play each other this season at Women’s Nationals on April 11th.
Iowa (0-3)
It is important to reiterate how much Iowa has improved over the course of this season. They have worked incredibly hard to set up opportunities to compete and have recruited an impressive number of players for both co-ed an no-sting dodgeball. Something else they do really well is remember to have fun. I learned from speaking to them at previous tournaments that they greatly respect the rest of the central region teams, and that they are playing every game to win. They are competitive and tired of losing, so it wasn’t shocking to see how excited they were when they scored a point on both UIUC and UNL. Each tournament they participate in shows the growth their team is undergoing. From hosting their first tournament in December, to winning their first game at the Zanderthon Throwdown, to scoring points on the region’s number 1 and number 2 team, and them hoping to attend nationals during their first ever season is incredibly impactful to not only the central region but the other young teams in the league. It proves that if Iowa can do it, so can others; and the league will continue to grow and improve.
Final Thoughts
We just want to thank the alumni who joined us to help run the event, the guys who joined the no-sting match against UNL, and Erik Zander for keeping the event running on schedule. This tournament was a long time in the making, and each team fought hard for their chance to win it, so congratulations to UNL for taking the first ever Central Region Dodgeball Cup!
If you missed out on any games, check out UWP’s YouTube channel for the live streams and excellent live commentary, check out each team’s socials for upcoming events and other fun things, and check out additional NCDA articles at https://ncdadodgeball.com/ for even more dodgeball content! Also, here is the link to photos taken at the event, make sure to give credit if you use any of them (Central Region Dodgeball Cup Pictures).