BGSU – Page 3

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.

Previewing the 2022 Ohio Dodgeball Cup

For the first time in two years, the Ohio Dodgeball Cup will be played this Saturday, February 5th, on Bowling Green State University’s campus. There will be five teams in attendance on the fifth; Akron, Bowling Green State, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Ohio State – all vying for a chance to take home the hardware Saturday afternoon. This could work out to be a great opportunity for those around the league to understand who the true top team in Ohio is this season. Or, we could be left with even more parity than we ended the fall semester with. Regardless, only one team can take the Cup home, and all five want it.

We asked each of the five teams what they think of their matchups this weekend, if they are bringing any young/lesser-known players they feel could be poised to make an impact, and how significant they felt winning the Ohio Dodgeball Cup would be for each of their programs. Here’s what they had to say:

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Ohio Dodgeball Cup

Viking Clash Recap

On December 4, 2021 at the Viking Clash, four teams went head to head at the Cleveland State Recreational Center, three from Ohio and one from the Midway region. The teams that went head to head were: Cleveland State University (CSU), Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Kent State University (Kent) and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP). Let’s take a look at the results on the day.

Viking Clash Preview

This Saturday, December 4, 2021 we have four teams in action at the Viking Clash. The teams in attendance are: the host school, Cleveland State University (CSU), Bowling Green State University (BGSU), Kent State University (Kent), and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP).

Below is the schedule for tomorrow’s event.

Viking Clash

2nd Annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza Tournament Review

The second annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza showed us where a lot of teams stand at this point in the season. With most teams having played a match throughout the league as of the conclusion of this weekend, I think we are finally starting to get a good picture for how each team compares to one another. While there are still a lot of lingering questions (IE – how does the majority of the East Coast stand up to the rest of the league? What does Michigan State look like? Is Towson still truly a top team in the NCDA? Are Grand Valley and Cincinnati actually that good?), we did get some real answers this weekend. Yes, Grand Valley is still a force to be reckoned with. Yes, Cincinnati is a legitimate title contender despite the loss to the aforementioned Lakers. Yes, the league is in overall good health with impressively large rookie classes for a lot of teams who hadn’t played prior to this weekend such as Ohio and Saginaw Valley.

What hasn’t been answered, however, is what each team thought about their own individual performances on the weekend. The participating Captains and Presidents minced no words when it comes to how they felt about their teams’ performances this past weekend. Here’s what they had to say:

2nd Annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza Preview

With the return of dodgeball comes the return of what I can only assume will become a time honored tradition for Ohio University, and that is hosting the annual John Betters’ Bobcat Bonanza in the fall semester. Not only will this year’s iteration feature eight talented dodgeball teams, but we will also witness the retirement of the great John Betters’ jersey as well as the ceremonial first throw – a welcomed new addition to the tournament.

Silliness aside, Ohio University will be host to some of the hardest hitting, most impactful matchups the NCDA has to offer since before the pandemic started in March of 2020. The teams in attendance will be Bowling Green State University, the University of Cincinnati, Grand Valley State University, James Madison University, Miami University, hosts Ohio University, [the] Ohio State University, and Saginaw Valley State University.

There are a lot of intriguing storylines to consider and questions that need answers as we head into Saturday’s tournament. To shine some light on some of those, we’ve asked the leaders of each team to provide some insight into who some players to look out for are, what they think about their respective matchups, and what they need to do to have a successful day Saturday. Without further adieu, here is what each team had to say: