Tag: kent

Spartan Invite Preview

*This is the first of three previews for the Spartan Invite.  Previews from Colin O’Brien and Jacob Leski will be published in the near future.

The Michigan State Spartans are off to a great start this season. The Spartan Invite will be yet another opportunity to prove they are one of the best teams in the nation.
The Michigan State Spartans are off to a great start this season. The Spartan Invite will be yet another opportunity to prove they are one of the best teams in the nation.

This Sunday, Michigan State University is set to host the annual Spartan Invite at IM West.  Michigan State along with Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, DePaul, Bowling Green State, and Kent State will take part in a big-time tournament.

As we close in on the end of the fall semester, this tournament will likely determine who the top dog in the NCDA is at the halfway point in the season.  All eyes will be on the matches that take place between MSU, GVSU, and CMU.  Each of these teams has beaten the others at least once so far this fall.  The circle of parity at the top of the league is more severe than in years past, but there is still over half a season left.  If any of these schools has plans of distancing themselves to become the #1 team in the league, this tournament will certainly be a strong stepping stone in that effort.

Bragging rights will be on the line Sunday when MSU, GVSU, CMU, BGSU, DePaul, and Kent face off in the annual Spartan Invite.  Here are my predictions for this weekend’s matches:

Continue reading “Spartan Invite Preview”

University of Akron’s “Pink Out”

pinkout-2015-01Written by: Adam Pfeifer [Akron]

The University of Akron hosted the first annual Pink Out tournament over the weekend which had 3 teams attend. 3 of the 4 teams had roughly the same skill level, that being Akron OU and BW, and Kent State being the outlier. Baldwin Wallace came into the tournament ranked 14th, Akron ranked 15th, Ohio university ranked 16th and Kent state ranked 6th Continue reading “University of Akron’s “Pink Out””

Akron hosts the first Pink Out

2015-campusforthecure

Alrighty, for Akron’s Pink Out tournament we have a lot of teams with similar ratings! Aside from Kent, most teams playing at Akron this Saturday have a average rating of 39.287 and a median rating of 38.585. That’s quite balanced… even with a spread of just 5.991 rating points from the highest rated team to the lowest rated team. In comparison, the League spread is 25.742 Continue reading “Akron hosts the first Pink Out”

Previewing Pumpkinfest 2

Time High Seed Low Seed Pre Event Rating Pre Event Rating Predicted Exchange Exchange if Upset
10:00 Towson UMD 44.806 40.985 0.618 1.382
10:00 VCU JMU-JV
10:00 JMU-JV VCU-JV
11:00 JMU UMD 57.207 40.985 0.010 2.000
11:00 Towson Kent 44.806 43.426 0.862 1.138
11:00 PSU VCU 37.644 32.224 0.458 1.542
12:00 JMU Towson 57.207 44.806 0.010 2.000
12:00 Kent PSU 43.426 37.644 0.422 1.578
12:00 UMD VCU 40.985 32.224 0.124 1.876
2:00 JMU Kent 57.207 43.426 0.010 2.000
2:00 UMD PSU 40.985 37.644 0.666 1.334
2:00 Towson VCU 44.806 32.224 0.010 2.000
3:00 JMU PSU 57.207 37.644 0.010 2.000
3:00 Towson JMU-JV
3:00 Kent VCU 43.426 32.224 0.010 2.000

Initial Ratings:

JMU: 57.207 (inc +3 for home advantage) (#3 in Gonzalez Standings)
Towson: 44.806 (#7)
Kent: 43.426 (#9)
UMD: 40.985 (#11)
PSU: 37.644 (#15)
VCU: 32.224 (#24)

JV and B team matches are recorded, but do not count towards primer standings.

You may note there’s a lot of potential exchanges at the minimum, 0.010. This is a sign that those matches are not between teams of similar strength. Over the years, I’ve found our East Coast region to be a sort of microcosm of the entire League. You may also note that JMU’s home rating (57.207) rivals GVSU current neutral court rating (57.357). That’d be a #1 and #2 in Gonzalez rating if GVSU has a chance to visit JMU’s home court again.

Summit Street Slugfest 2: The Sluggening

KENT – SWRC: In Summit Street Slugfest 2: The Sluggening:
Kent def UK 2-1
MSU def Akron 7-0
OSU def Kent 4-0
UK def Akron 3-1
OSU def Akron 7-1
MSU def UK 4-1
Kent def Akron 6-0
MSU def OSU 1-0
MSU def Kent 2-1
OSU def UK 3-1  Continue reading “Summit Street Slugfest 2: The Sluggening”

2015 BGSU Invitational

BOWLING GREEN – Perry Fieldhouse: In the BGSU Invitational,
Kent def Akron 6-0
OSU def BW 6-0
Kent def BGSU 2-1
BW def Ohio 7-0 (inducting match)
OSU def BGSU 3-0
OSU def Ohio 5-0
BGSU def Akron 3-0
Akron def Ohio 4-0
Kent def BW 5-1

Ohio U joins the League as #38  Continue reading “2015 BGSU Invitational”

Kentucky Invitational Preview

10422055_10205887517656828_585012614899180215_nThis weekend will feature two very interesting NCDA regular season tournaments.  One will be played at DePaul University (Chicago Dodgeball Open) featuring two of the top teams in Michigan (Grand Valley State & Central Michigan) along with arguably the top two teams from the Illinois region (Wisconsin Platteville & DePaul).

The other tournament played over the weekend might be even more interesting than the CDO.  On January 31, the University of Kentucky will play host to in state rival Western Kentucky, the top three Ohio teams: Ohio State, Kent State, and Bowling Green State, as well as an undefeated James Madison squad from the East Coast.

Here are a few storylines to follow in this mid-season showdown as UK. Continue reading “Kentucky Invitational Preview”

GVSU Invite #2 Recap

Grand Valley State University’s dodgeball team hosted the second of their two fall tournaments this past weekend, and it turned out to be a very interesting day of dodgeball.  In attendance were four Michigan teams: Grand Valley State, Michigan State, Central Michigan, and Davenport (Kent State was scheduled to attend but was unable to make the trip, therefor they forfeited each game they were scheduled to play).

This event did not particularly go as most would have expected.  The records for each team at this tournament are as follows (remember each team earned a win by forfeit against Kent): GVSU: 4-0, CMU: 3-1, MSU: 1-3, DU: 1-1, Kent, 0-4 [F].  Here is my recap of each game played at this tournament which unquestionably proved that the NCDA (especially the Michigan region) is WIDE OPEN this season! Continue reading “GVSU Invite #2 Recap”