Summit Street Slugfest Exchanges

Miami rejoins the NCDA after two seasons of inactivity. This is of great credit to a freshman who last played for Miami at Nationals 2014. It is also the first time a team will return after this sort of inactivity, in the history of the NCDA. Miami finished the 2014 Season with 33.208, and through two “regression to the means” Miami will reenter the 2017 season with a 37.987 rating. This will put Miami at about #17 in this week’s standings.

In terms of this third Summit Street Slugfest, the parity is spotty. We have a few potential minimum value matches here, but yet the same number of close ones. Akron, Miami, and BGSU are part of a highly competitive section of ratings and will see good competition in their matches. But OSU and Kent are old rivals, having participated in the first intercollegiate dodgeball match in history. They are the heavyweights of the day, Kent moreso with a home court boost.  Continue reading “Summit Street Slugfest Exchanges”

Pumpkin Smash 2k16 Exchanges

Pumpkin Smash has become the fall mainstay, and here we have a small event with everyone current to Virginia… plus Towson. This will be the first matches of the Season for JMU and UVA.

An interesting observation, both UVA and VCU are potential contenders come their scheduled third round match, but the end weight of that match relies on the previous rounds. VCU has one of the smallest gaps on JMU in the history between these two in-state rivals. While VCU has gained ground this season, JMU’s historical rating lends them the favor. A VCU upset in the second round would be a good boost for their program, and cause an even larger gap for UVA in the third round.

JMU / Towson shares a similar outcome. As predicted, this match will be the closest of the day, but that relies on prior victories on VCU and UVA. Continue reading “Pumpkin Smash 2k16 Exchanges”

What We Learned In Akron

The University of Akron hosted their second annual Pink Out Tournament this Saturday which featured Akron, BGSU, Kent State, UK, OU, VCU, and WKU.  Needless to say, it was an exciting tournament overall and a chance to see a ton of competitive dodgeball.  After taking a 7.5 hour drive back to Richmond, it gave me time to think about the tournament, and the key takeaways from this weekend.  Here are my biggest observations.

Continue reading “What We Learned In Akron”

Previewing Pink Out 2

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Courtesy of Nick Irhin [Akron]
It is only fair that we post this promo picture twice, and just like the poster, this should certainly be an exciting tournament.  There will be 7 teams representing 3 states in a tournament that could create major changes in the league rankings.  I will be taking a look at each team and going over some expectations and things to watch out for over the weekend. So with that being said, I’ll get started. Continue reading “Previewing Pink Out 2”

Investigating New Changes

As the saying goes, “if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”  This past offseason, there were 5 total rule/policy changes and 1 bylaw change, each of which with their own positives and negatives.  However, two of those changes have been both significant and controversial; Executive Board veto power on member team’s votes for rule changes, and the new “clean-blocking” rule change.  Since most teams have gotten a couple games under their belts we have been able to see the effect the blocking rule has had on games, and had a chance to form reasonable opinions about the change. Alternatively, the Executive Board veto power has only been used once thus far in order to pass the newest blocking proposal.  Either way, people around the league still have their opinions on the changes, and I had a chance to talk with some individuals from across the league about these changes.

Overall, views are mixed, but I want to start with some of the issues I have heard with these two new changes.  Continue reading “Investigating New Changes”

Pink Out 2: The Exchange Strikes Back

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Courtesy of Nick Irhin [Akron]
Akron holds a second Pink Out and I would love for this to continue as tradition. They’re in a great geographical position. But even more, Akron has some positive vibes to bring in some great competitors. For this event, we see three out of state teams and all these matches have good values on the Gonzalez exchange. The average rating gap is just 4.417, so our competitors have some great matches ahead of them this weekend.  Continue reading “Pink Out 2: The Exchange Strikes Back”

Players to Watch – Michigan Region

I went to my first tournament as an alumnus this past weekend as Grand Valley hosted all four Michigan schools. It was quite an odd feeling watching my old team play without being out there with them, and especially hard when MSU vs CMU went to overtime. But regardless, I enjoyed myself and was able to watch a tournament from a new perspective. Here are four standouts, one from each school, who are some lesser known players on their respective teams.

Continue reading “Players to Watch – Michigan Region”

Kentucky Preview

Y’all. Now that you know you aren’t in Michigan, here is a look into the south. With a long-standing friendly rivalry, UK and WKU are both set to have a standout year. By spring, that rivalry will grow with the return of University of Louisville.

It should be noted that UK and WKU have played in a double header this year; the first ending in OT in WKU’s favor and the second ended in regulation with UK on top. Continue reading “Kentucky Preview”

Grand Valley State Gauntlet IV

Grand Valley State Gauntlet IV
Preview and Predictions
Attending Teams: GV, SV, MSU, and CMU

Grand Valley

gv The Lakers have been everything as expected with a four time defending national champion. Led by Captain Brandon Meisel and the presence of Aaron Terenzi the Lakers have jumped out to a 3-1 record. Their lone loss coming to MSU in their first game. This season was looking to be a different story than in years past for the Lakers after they dropped the opener. Since then they have not only won but dominated.  Continue reading “Grand Valley State Gauntlet IV”