BGSU – NCDA

2023 Ohio Dodgeball Cup Preview

The 2023 Ohio Dodgeball Cup will take place this Saturday, February 25th. Ohio State University will be host to this year’s tournament which features an 8-team, single-elimination bracket to determine the winner. There are several legitimate contenders to win it this year, which will undoubtedly lead to high drama late in the day. Below is an analysis for each team provided by Content Team members Ethan Lehmkuhl and Kevin Skiba.

Pre-Trophy Preview Ohio Region

As time grows closer to the Ohio Dodgeball Cup and Nationals, let’s take a step back and look at all the Ohio schools and their season so far. The following teams in this region are: Ohio Univeristy, University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University, University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, Miami University, Cleveland State Univeristy, and Kent State University. We asked respondents from each school these questions about how they felt their season has gone and general knowledge about their clubs.

1. Who is your OT6 (please include if they are a captain, rookie, etc)?

2. Anything notable go well for you at these tournaments? Anything you need to improve on?

3. Any changes for your team heading into the spring semester?

4. Which tournament are you most excited for this spring?

5. What team would you most like to play?

6. Do you have any rising players on your team you’d like to give a shoutout?

7. How will your team do this spring?

8. Please list 3 players you think should be on AA and womens AA (not including your team).

9. Please list 1 rookie youve been impressed by (not including your team).

10. Please give us your thoughts on 1 team ranked above you and 1 team ranked below you.

Falcon’s Ladies Invitational

We are very excited that in one month, on Saturday, January 28 2023, Bowling Green State University will be hosting the first ever Women’s Only College Dodgeball tournament featuring the new women’s no-sting division ruleset. Modeled after the USAD rules with a little NCDA flare (yes, there will be soft boundaries), we are ready to get the women of the NCDA the attention and gameplay they deserve.

Pink Out VII Recap

This past weekend the University of Akron held the 7th Annual Pink Out tournament and it did not disappoint! There were several good games and a lot of surprises that most were not expecting. This tournament gave us a better idea who the top teams are in the league and what we should expect at future events. Let’s take a look on how each team did on the day as seen by Kathryn Mays (OSU) and Ethan Lehmkuhl (OSU).

Pink Out VII Preview

This weekend, Akron University will host their 7th Annual Pink Out tournament. This year looks to be a special tournament, with 11 teams in attendance from the Ohio, Michigan, and East Coast regions – we hope to learn a lot about these teams. It is also worth noting that half of these teams are ranked in the top 10 in the latest Power Rankings. This will be a prime opportunity for each of these teams to prove their worth and gain valuable on-court experience. We asked each of these teams to tell us about their biggest leaders, rookies, expectations, strengths, and more. Check it out!

JBBBIII Recap

Ten teams made the trip to Ohio University on October 1st to play in the John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza III. We saw a few teams make their first appearance of the season including last year’s runner up, Michigan State, while others were looking to improve on past performances. Of the 18 matches played only one ended with a single point difference. What does this say about the teams this season? We’ll go team by team and breakdown what these matches showed us and what to look for in coming tournaments. Also, stay tuned for the Women’s Tournament Recap article.

Cleveland State huddling up during a match at JBBBIII

JBBB3 Preview

Introduction

Ohio University is hosting one of the largest tournaments that we will see in most fall semesters to come – the 3^rd Annual John Betters Bobcat Bonanza! This club will play host to nine other teams that will make the trip to Athens, OH and try and earn themselves a few wins on the weekend. Will the Bobcats continue their hot streak on their home turf? Will Michigan State continue the dominance it started last year by knocking of Cincinnati and Ohio in their own state? To answer those questions, let’s take a look into the schools taking the trip to the beautiful campus.

RedHawk Classic Recap

Last weekend at the RedHawk Classic, Miami University, University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Wisconsin Platteville battled it out in some highly competitive games. The records for the day: UWP 3-0, Akron 2-1, BGSU 1-2, and Miami 0-3. Below are the scores from this tournament:

RedHawk Classic Preview

The first of the two events this weekend will be hosted by Miami (OH) University. The teams in attendance will be: Miami (OH) University, University of Akron, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. This will be the first action of the year for both UWP and BGSU and for Akron and Miami this will be their second event. Let’s take a look at the schedule below.

Buckeye Showcase

2022 Women’s All-American Team

The 2022 NCDA season was always going to be one with a lot of mystery heading into the year. With a significant hiatus away from the court, questions about which teams and players would step up and push their way to the top remained at large until finally everything came together with a fantastic showing at this year’s Nationals. Since 2017, the NCDA has honored the female competitors who have dedicated time and effort to their craft. These women erased all the doubt, the mystery, and questions through their excellent play and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt they were some of the best athletes college dodgeball had to offer. This list recognizes both the athletic achievements and amazing leadership these women have brought to their respective clubs.

– Hunter Ford, NCDA President

Bowling Green State Falcons Pre-Nationals Spotlight

Leading into Nationals, we look to spotlight as many teams as we can in hopes of shining a bright light on standouts from participating teams. These glow-ups include up to 2 of each team’s standout rookies as well as a handful of core contributing players that have gotten their respective team to where they are going into the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s annual finale. Lastly, we get a glance into each participating team’s mindset and expectations going into Nationals.

The War V Recap

We expected a weekend full of quality dodgeball as Akron hosted their 5th annual iteration of The War. What we witnessed, however, was frankly a lot of lopsided matches. Certain teams we anticipated to have great performances came in as advertised. Others left a lot to be desired, and will hope to bounce back strong if they play again before Nationals, or else they will be chewing on those hard truths about the way their team played for the next 5 weeks.

With that being said, there is a lot to unwrap, and a lot to be said about what we saw from each team, whether they performed well, poorly, or somewhere in between. Let’s go team by team and evaluate what we saw.