The 2025–2026 National Collegiate Dodgeball Association season is in full swing, with many teams gearing up for their second tournament of the young campaign. Four of the league’s strongest programs will meet in Oxford, Ohio, for the South Oak Showdown on Saturday, October 18. The event promises plenty of fireworks and storylines to follow, including yet another rematch of last year’s national championship game. Let’s take a look at each team making the trip to southwest Ohio and their thoughts on the matches ahead.
Miami: The hosts of the South Oak Showdown are looking to continue on an exceptional, undefeated performance at the Clifton Heights Classic as the calendar turns to October. The defending National Champions silenced any doubters they may have had coming into the year, beating Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Cincinnati with encouraging all-around performances from their core. Regarding the tournament, captain Ty Keller says, “We’re looking to keep the momentum going that we built from the last tournament and improve on the things we have been working on in practice.” Keller also said the Redhawks are looking forward to playing their rivals, Ohio, again, whom they beat 2-1 three weeks ago. They have already beaten two of the three teams attending the tournament, and will look to protect home court and the number one seed in the nation.
UC: Cincinnati enjoyed some home cooking to start their 2025-26 campaign, going 2-1 on their home court at the Clifton Heights Classic. The only blemish on the day was a 3-1 loss to the Redhawks in a rematch of last season’s National Championship game that the Bearcats will have a chance to avenge this weekend. The Bearcats saw strong performances from familiar faces, such as First Team All-American Will Hyatt and Rookie All-American Brett Sweeney, and also saw a few rookies crack the starting lineup and hold their own against some of the nation’s best. Hyatt said, “We are excited to get our rookies some more experience this weekend against a strong OU team, and have yet again another matchup against Miami. The first game this season against Miami was sloppy, but we hope to clean up the little mistakes and break our losing streak against them.“
OHIO: The Bobcats are severely understaffed coming into this tournament, as they will be missing nine players who made their first tournament roster. Despite being understaffed, Ohio still boasts some of its top talent and believes it can hang with the best of them, especially after a strong 2-1 showing at the Clifton Heights Classic, which included a win over #2 Ohio State. With the lack of depth coming into the tournament, the green and white are looking for big performances from captains Jack Watts, who had four catches in the one-point it won against Miami in the last tournament, and Ryan Theiss, who accumulated 25 kills in three matches last tournament. “We are quite thin this weekend, but still are excited to tackle some of the best teams in the nation as we continue to get some of our new pieces involved in competitive dodgeball,” said an Ohio captain.
UIUC: UIUC is coming into the season playing in their first event of the year. They lost big name players like Konnor Del Mar and Charles Cardenas. These are some big shoes to fill and they will be looking for some of their returners to step up and take their places so they can continue to build off the success of the previous years. For this event, UIUC will be bringing a small squad so they have a big battle ahead of them this weekend to remain competitive. Their goal for this weekend is to get valuable experience for their rookies and use what they learn from this event to get themselves ready for the Pioneer Classic in the next few weeks. Here is what UIUC captain Brandon Gacek had to say about this weekend. “I want to see us really find our footing in this first tournament in terms of strategy, and see where we lie with the new group. It’s an opportunity to get some great experience, and I expect veterans Ehis Eromosele, Jaden Tran, and Alejandro Alanis-Montes and rookies Jia Kim, Avan Teuer, and Matthew Hosp to make their presence known.”