Cornhusker Clash Recap

Cornhusker Clash Recap- By: Erik Zander & Ryan Atz

Nobody in the league takes pictures better than us!

Over the weekend of September 30th, three teams competed at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL), in the Cornhusker Clash. Based on the scores of participating teams, there was no huge upset in Lincoln this year, but not everything went to people’s expectations. The scores go as follows:

DePaul def UNL 3-2
UWP def DePaul 6-1
UWP def UNL 7-0

As predicted, the University of Wisconsin – Platteville (UWP) came out of the gates swinging hard, taking a win in both of their matches. With a cumulative score of 13 -1 over the weekend, they were the clear winners of the Clash. In second, comes DePaul, who went 1-1 in their matches, but

overall still received a small net-loss in the Gonzalez ranking (-0.190). Coming in third for the Cornhusker Clash is UNL, the home team for the tournament. Although UNL went 0-2 over the weekend, it’s worth noting that the Cornhuskers were nearly able to force overtime against DePaul in the last few minutes of their match, and very well could have won against them if given a little more time.

Continuing on is a breakdown of each team’s performance, written by Ryan Atz – RA (DePaul) and Erik Zander – EZ (UWP).

University of Nebraska – Lincoln
RA:
First off, I want to thank UNL and their captain Tanner Obermeier for inviting us down once again to play. I want to especially commend them for their facility this year, as it was very accommodating for our kind of playing. I’m not sure if the facility is intended for soccer or floor hockey, or something in-between, but we barely had to worry about stray balls, whether airborne or launched far away from the court. After a very

These guys definitely had a great time!

hard-fought battle between our two clubs, I was impressed by many faces I have never seen before, as well as some of UNL’s veterans. I know that this was the first tournament for quite a few in both of our squads, but I’m sure if they cut back on a few rookie mistakes that they could go far.

EZ: I would also like to thank UNL for hosting another great tournament this year, it is always a blast when these teams meet up.  Nebraska had several new faces on the squad so it was their first real experience with dodgeball.  They played well and I’m sure with a few more games under their belts they will be even more competitive next time. As a squad, they were not afraid to go for catches and had a few strong arms.

University of Wisconsin – Platteville
RA:
As you can probably tell by the scores, UWP didn’t pull any punches over the weekend, and ended up scoring two dominant victories. This is partially due to retaining many key players on their roster coming into this school year, but I don’t want to discredit many of the new members I saw on the court. Many of their younger faces are already showing a lot of promise, and it’s clear that UWP has found some fresh blood that is up to

Ryan Atz! Why are you in Platteville’s picture and where did you get that awesome shirt?

the challenge. I’m interested in seeing how far this club can go this year, and if these new additions can handle the grind. Out of each three teams at the Cornhusker Clash, UWP was easily the most coordinated in both strategy and skill.

EZ: I cannot agree more with Ryan on this, Platteville’s experience played a factor on their performance at this tournament. The freshmen picked up on the game fast and gained a lot of valuable experience that I hope will transition over into practice.  Several had big catches when we needed to keep the point in our favor. They did the little things right, which is more than you can ask for at a first tournament.  I was also impressed with how the veteran players played on the court and how our captains led the team. Tim Ebert, Will Martin, and Louis Thompson knew when they had to make big plays, when to slow the pace of the game down, and coordinating strategy on the court.

DePaul Dodgeball Society
RA: Being able to bring a mix of veteran strength and fresh blood to this tournament was DePaul’s goal, as one of our club’s focuses this year is to open up the NCDA to many of our prospective freshman. Since DePaul’s quarter-system had us starting the school year after Labor Day, we had

A classy bunch we have here!

less time to rope people in, especially since the distance from Chicago to Lincoln is no joke, but I’d say we were successful nonetheless. After this weekend, I received many surprised comments on how intense the NCDA is, but they were all accompanied by how each player can’t wait for the next one. One of my freshman, Emma Pieroni, echoed this statement by saying “[Traveling to UNL] was awesome! It was kind of an eye-opener, but I’m excited to play more and get better too.”

EZ: DePaul impressed me with how well they played. Against Nebraska they came from behind to pull out the win and against Platteville their cross throws were stellar.  The biggest thing that kept them from competing against us was the fact that most of their squad were new players with no experience.  I think they are going to build off of what they did last year and hit the ground running. I’m looking forward to seeing them at Platteville’s home tournament. Great job guys and I love the shirt “Headshots Count” (It is always good to support another team, wore it while writing this up).

Thoughts from the Day’s Tournament

Bobby Lehrer (UWP Freshman) – “It was much louder in the tournament then in practice, but it was good to see everybody running up after the other team threw. The pace was a lot quicker than in practice, but it seemed like everybody on the team worked well together.”

Ryan Wall (UWP Freshman) – “Throughout the tournament the

President Will Martin’s Look (23) says it all-You cannot pick your teammates!

importance of ball control was evident, since most of the time it decided who won.” (Wise, this individual is.)

Nick Bohlim (Nebraska Captain) –“It was a great time.” (That is really all you need to say and he wasn’t wrong.)

Tanner Obermeier (Nebraska Captain) – “I think it was a great opportunity for new members to get their feet wet. Most of the new members said it was eye opening and a lot of fun.”

Final thoughts

It was a fun filled day and it was a great way to start the year of for all the teams and their new players. I’m looking forward to seeing how these teams do this year as all are ready to play and have fun!

 

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