UWP Dodgeball Fall Semester Recap.
Content Editors Recap
Well, were halfway through 2019-2020 dodgeball season with a new team trying to make its mark in the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association. A bunch of different characters have come together with goals to be one of the best dodgeball teams to compete, have fun, and make memories. With the majority of last year’s squad returning, with a few new faces sprinkled in, this team is ready for the challenges of replacing four quality players in Erik Zander, Tomas Zander, Will Martin, and Ian Pongratz. Our team is led by Captain Daniel Brogli (“Dirty Dan”) and our Co-Captains Jared Colden and Chad Jakel. The players that have made the most impact during the fall semester are Austin Kurey, Noah Larscheid, Daniel Skoumal (“Better/New Dan”), and Ryan Wall (“Squirrel”). During the fall semester, the Platteville dodgeball team competed in three tournaments and will commence the second half of the season on February 29th at their home tournament, Zanderthon Throw-down.
Captains remarks
The UWP team went through a lot of learning in the first semester. We had a lot of returning members coming back with better skills, and a refreshed understanding/feel for the game. We also had a handful of new players on the team, which helped mix things up. In terms of playing, I must admit we started off slow. We weren’t playing as a team in practice. There seemed to be more individualism and less cooperative competing. It was a work in progress and our first tournament kind of exposed it to everyone who hadn’t noticed it prior. There was definitely a change that started after that. We started to click more as a team. It might have helped that we were learning each other’s abilities and purposes.
We had a short squad go to GVSU to play. It was treated as learning experience since it was mostly the newbies on the team that went. They came back and gained a lot out of it.
The last tournament we had was our own, and to me was our best performance. We were able to get our less experienced players a lot of playing time with some great competition. Our best showing had to be Nebraska. We fell behind early and had to work hard just to get to halftime without giving up another point. We played better in the second half because we were able to make them play the way we wanted to. The best showing of this came during overtime. This is where the veterans were able to display to the rest of the team their knowledge and what the team is capable of.
The last bit of the semester was used to work on developing the small skills for everyone. We have a lot to learn individually and as a team this semester to compete at nationals. We are looking forward to a couple tournaments to prepare this semester. Our home tournament on the 29th of February, we are expecting a turnout like our last. It would be nice if we could get an Ohio or Michigan team to come out. It would help our whole conference and would be a nice showing of camaraderie since it is known that we like to travel to compete against them. “The War” is going to be great. I don’t have to say much about it since all the teams going probably feel the same way. It will be a great time to compare to the other teams in the league, and also great practice for Nationals. I have high hopes for our team this semester.
Tournament Recaps
Cornhusker Clash
The first tournament of the semester was the Cornhusker Clash which was hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on October 12. During this tournament, the UWP Dodgeball team went 2-0 on the day. With the scores being 3-2 and 4-2. The overall theme of this tournament was slow starts and slight rust to start the 2019-2020 season. Nebraska came ready to play and kept UWP on their back line consistently. UWP found ways to fight back when down and came out of the weekend 2-0. Here is the official cornhusker class recap link.
Grand Valley Gauntlet
The Grand Valley Gauntlet took place on October 19th. The teams who participated were GVSU, GVSU B, MSU, and UWP. Overall, this was a learning experience for the team where we went 1-2. The team was shorthanded during this tournament without bringing a full roster. Certain players played exceptionally well in a 10-0 loss to GVSU and 7-0 loss to MSU and our lone win against GVSU B (7-0). The team saw the pace of top tier teams with in the NCDA and this tournament gave our younger players a taste of what to expect during nationals and other tournaments. Now, here is the full Grand Valley Gauntlet recap.
Pioneer Invitational
The pioneer invitational took place on November 16th. Four teams participated in the pioneer invitational: University of Wisconsin Platteville (UWP), University Nebraska Lincoln (UNL), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), and DePaul University. This was the largest tournament ever hosted by UWP. The UWP dodgeball team went 3-1 on the day with their only loss to their alumni team. UWP defeated DePaul (6-0) and UWP Defeated SIUE (6-1). In the first annual cone game, UWP went 2-1(OT) over UNL. This tournament tested our leadership, strengths, and composure. Here is the link with the full recap of the pioneer invitational.