On Sunday, Nov. 9, Saginaw Valley State University played host to Grand Valley State University in the annual “Battle of the Valleys” dodgeball game. As is always the case in this rivalry, the game was very competitive. GVSU wound up being the victors by a score of 3-1, but don’t let the two point deficit fool you; this game could have swung either way.
SAGINAW, Mich. — Cardinal Gym in the Battle of the Valleys:
GVSU def SVSU 3-1
GVSU JV def SVSU JV 3-1
COLUMBUS – RPAC: Akron joins the NCDA in the Buckeye Invite:
CMU: 4-0
Kent: 3-1
OSU: 3-1
MSU: 3-1
UK: 1-3
WKU: 0-4
Akron: 0-4
On Sunday November 9th, seven teams will attend the Buckeye Invite in Columbus, Ohio at OSU’s RPAC. The teams in attendance come from all over the Midwest. Making the long drive from Michigan are Michigan State who is only expecting to bring 11 players and Central Michigan who is bringing a fairly young squad due to many starters not being able to make the long journey. From Kentucky, Western Kentucky and the Wildcats will both be bringing full squads, not something teams are used to seeing out of WKU. From Ohio, the Buckeyes will have their full squad in attendance. Kent State will be attending the tournament as well, hoping to make a statement. And the seventh team in attendance will be NCDA newcomer Akron, who are excited to play their first inaugural matches in team history. Due to the large amount of teams in attendance, not every team will be playing each other, which is why there will be a fairly large amount of interesting match-ups this Sunday.
Tournament Schedule:
OSU: UK, MSU, Kent and WKU
Kent: Akron, WKU, OSU, CMU
Akron: Kent, UK, CMU, MSU
WKU: MSU, Kent, CMU, OSU
UK: OSU, CMU, Akron, MSU
MSU: WKU, OSU, UK, Akron
CMU: UK, WKU, Akron, Kent
Last weekend, Michigan State University hosted their annual tournament: the MSU Invite. In attendance were five NCDA teams along with Michigan States “Impact Sports TV crew, filming and commentating many of the games played. Here is a brief recap of this event:
EAST LANSING, Mich. – IM Sports West in the MSU Invite:
GVSU: 4-0
CMU: 3-1
MSU: 2-2
DePaul: 1-3
WKU: 0-4
All you Midwesterners out there with your constant scheduling of games and consistent analysis of your teams, but I wanted to shed some light on what’s going on over here on the East Coast.
As some of you older folks may know, I went to James Madison in Virginia, but I grew up just outside Baltimore close to Towson University. As a lad in high school, I never applied to Towson or Maryland because I wanted to get out-of-state to meet new folks. So I took my talents to (South Beach) Harrisonburg, Virginia where I guess we say the rest is history.
Anyways… Baltimore, and more specifically Towson University, was the site of Beltway Bash 2.0 where the usual suspects were in attendance for another NCDA mash-up to see if anything really has changed in the East Coast. And as a stone’s throw from my house, why not spend my Saturday afternoon watching men grab some balls? Continue reading “East Coast Update – Thoughts from an Old Man”
October’s Baller of the Month goes out to Western Kentucky’s Captain Nick Johnson. Nick just recently led his team to a victory over the University of Kentucky for the 1st time in over 4 seasons. Nick is also the director of this year’s national tournament in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which we talk about in detail. Tune into my interview with him and his thoughts on this season so far.
The annual MSU Invite will take place this Sunday, Nov. 2nd at IM Sports West on Michigan State University’s campus. There will be a bit of a different flavor at this year’s event with two uncommon attendees making an appearance. Central Michigan and Grand Valley State will join host school Michigan State to give the MSU Invite three Michigan teams in attendance along with Western Kentucky, and DePaul.
An event known to have majority non-Michigan teams in attendance, the MSU Invite will give three Michigan teams the chance to compete thanks to MSU captain Colin O’Brien’s belief that several Michigan Teams participating in this event will only help the competition level. Here is my preview of what is turning into a very intriguing tournament.
This past weekend Bowling Green State University hosted their annual fall tournament: The BGSU Invite. The results from this tournament are as follows: GVSU: 3-0, CMU: 3-1, OSU: 1-2, Kent: 1-2, BGSU: 0-3. Looking past the records for each team, it was an impressive showing for most teams in attendance, especially the three Ohio squads. Here is my recap on the tournament (listing teams in order of how I would rank them after this weekend):
Towson, MD. – Burdick Hall in the Beltway Bash
JMU: 2-0
UMD: 1-1
TU- 0-2
BOWLING GREEN, Oh. – Perry Field House in the BGSU Invite
GVSU: 3-0
CMU: 3-1
OSU: 1-2
Kent: 1-2
BGSU: 0-3
Only one NCDA match was played this weekend, and it was a great one. Western Kentucky played host to in-state rival Kentucky on Saturday. This was the second meeting between the two schools this season, with Kentucky taking the first meeting 3-0 in the opening match of the 2014-15 NCDA regular season. Continue reading “Rivalry Renewed: WKU vs. UK”
BOWLING GREEN – Preston: WKU def UK 2-1 Continue reading “WKU def UK 2-1”
Location: Chicago, Illinois
NCDA Region: Illinois
2013-2014 Record: 2-21
National Tournament Finish: Lost to Kent in the first round
2014-2015 Captains: The Blue Demons will be led by Sam Murphy and Austin Downs
Returning Starters: They return just about everybody.
Players to Watch: Sam Murphy, Austin Downs and Niko Nodal Continue reading “Season Preview: DePaul”
