This tournament was a huge step for the UW-Platteville Dodgeball Club; it was the first time we had enough women to form their own no-sting team and compete. This year the tournament was hosted by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, which was a little daunting. Driving to Ohio two weekends in a row was definitely exhausting, but it ended up being extremely fulfilling.
Before we start, I want to make a few things clear. No-sting dodgeball is relatively the same as pinch dodgeball rule-wise, but it does have some notable differences that can be confusing to those unfamiliar.
- There are six players on the court from each team at one time.
- There are only six balls in play instead of the ten balls in pinch.
- The court is much smaller which can be hard to adapt to after playing on the full court for pinch.
With that brief explanation, enjoy the recap!
UWP vs Akron A
Our game against Akron A was our team’s first official no-sting match of the season. All our previous matches had either been against mixed teams or against our male teammates, so we were unsure of what to expect. We were all on edge from the pressure of the first game, but it would help boost our confidence and settle our nerves for the rest of the day.
We did well by sticking to our strategy of obtaining at least two balls off the start, and we fell into our rotation of attacks. Everyone was blocking and throwing which prevented one player from throwing disproportionately more than the others. We were throwing behind our blockers for the most part, and our throws were being made by half court. There were moments of slight hesitation that prevented our throws from being their most powerful, but we regained our composure to play on.
Akron A liked to hang out on their back line and wait for catches, so keeping them up at their attack line was our number one goal. They rarely ran into their throws, they don’t always prioritize having a blocker, and they rely on quick reset throws instead of throwing for the out. Their main priority is not ball control like it is ours.
During the first point, rookie Alison Draxler did a great job holding her own by getting quick counters off and keeping in mind ball placement when throwing. She would take two balls up to attack with first and block with the second which allowed her to survive as long as she did. Alison did a fantastic job as co-captain as she stepped into the leadership role without any hesitation.
I think this game was a good wakeup call for us because it helped us realize that we were far more capable than we thought. We continued to push through the points until half time where we were down zero to three. Our confidence was a little hurt, but we just needed to step up our game. Any time we had a ball, we applied hard pressure to prevent Akron from getting a good throw off. We did have a balls over called on us, but this resulted in Captain Hollie Wheeler securing a catch off of a team throw which boosted the teams moral! We were able to score one point on Akron A making the final score UWP 1-6 Akron A.
UWP vs Kent
Kent was a very fun team to play. They had several very different types of players with their own style of play, and it was great to see them not give up no matter the score. Shout out to Natalie Conn for her mastery in catching! She really kept her team alive with how many she secured.
We ended up giving up the first point, so we started the second point with a powerful team throw, which connected. Our gameplay became more relaxed as our anxiety from our first game diminished, and we started to move as a unit again. Kent liked to stay on their back line instead of running up and attacking, so we wound up running back and forth a lot this match. This also allowed us to maintain ball control which then let us execute our favorite team throws. We rolled into the next half with a score of UWP 4-1 Kent.
The second half opened with us dominating the opening rush by getting five of the six balls. We were able to make quick work of the next few points with coordinated attacks. We further scored four more points before an unfortunate injury occurred, and we unanimously agreed to call the game with just over three minutes left on the clock. Luckily, everyone was okay in the end, and the final score was UWP 8-1 Kent.
UWP vs MSU A
The opening rush of our first game against MSU was quite hectic. MSU made several attempts to secure as many balls as they could, but rookie Alison Draxler held her ground and was able to secure two of the balls being fought over. Even though we secured ball control, MSU’s experience made quick work of us, but we were able to make a few outs, too!
The reason MSU A is such a daunting opponent is because they only play no-sting. Our focus was not originally on the no-sting style as the majority of our team plays pinch dodgeball, so our priority was improving the skills we learned in pinch so we could carry it over to no-sting. This year was the first time any of us even played no-sting.
With how quickly the first point ended, we knew we needed to step our game up ten fold. For one, rookie Tori Sanborn made it her mission to obtain that middle ball. She would run as hard as she could, regardless of how tired she was or how much her knees were hurting, just so we could get another weapon on our side. By the end of the game, MSU was fighting hard for that ball, sometimes ripping it away from Tori. Our main goal, at this point, was providing coverage so our throwers could safely get their throws off. This was the moment where MSU realized we had no intention of backing down.
Point three started, and Tori got that center ball again, and it was obvious that MSU found that infuriating. It was this point where veteran Hollie Wheeler secured our first catch against them, bringing in rookie Reagan Bucholtz! Regardless of the score, that catch gave us a little more wind under our wings and allowed us to continue to play hard. As the first half continued, our court awareness improved, and we were more successful at preventing balls from rolling back to our opponents. We are taught to use our feet or the ball in our hand to knock the target ball back to our safe zone so we don’t surrender ball control. Our decisions were getting more confident as we watched MSU get more and more frustrated by how we were keeping up.
After two sneaky outs, veteran Kate Douglas secured a catch, bringing rookie Victoria Bonilla back in! With the ball she caught, she went up to apply pressure but, according to our commentator Eric Sullivan, she shot it into the ground as a “generational nuke.” Now without a ball, her only option was to back up, but a ball came flying towards her which she also caught! This catch brought Alison back in, in which she quickly secured another out. Not long after, Victoria was able to scoop up another catch with a ball already in her hand.
Numbers continued to dwindle on both sides until it was a 2 vs 2 situation. Vets Hollie and Kate took turns throwing, making sure to keep a good distance from the other team. Sadly, a catch thrown by Hollie changed the situation greatly– three MSU players against Kate. Miraculously, she was able to hit two of the three as several throws were exchanged, but she miscalculated when going for the catch and missed it. This play ended the first half with just over forty seconds rolled over with a score of UWP 0-4 MSU. To put it plainly, this was the best point our team has played. I am extremely proud of our girls for not giving up even when all odds seemed against us. We continued to play hard the following half and only gave up three more points to MSU, resulting in a score of UWP 0-7 MSU.
UWP vs MSU A-Bracket Play
We were able to take a short break by refereeing a game on court two which gave us a little time to shake off the previous game before having to play MSU again. By now, MSU was fired up, determined to play Akron A for the championship. Due to some upsetting interactions and disappointing calls, we were all a bit unhappy during the duration of this game. Being the underdogs was extremely prevalent to us at this point; we wanted to leave our mark and prove to the league that Platteville was just as good as them. Our loss to MSU in the bracket frustrated us, me especially. I wanted my last tournament to end on a higher note, but the loss will only motivate the team to do better next year.
The things we learned at this event will be passed down to the future women’s teams so they can continue to improve from where we started. The final score in our second game against MSU was UWP 0-9 MSU. I can’t wait to watch that score grow closer and closer.
Afterthoughts
I cannot put into words how proud I am of our ladies. From injuries to physical handicaps to inexperience, our debut was undoubtedly a stressful one. While we literally had nothing to lose, we still struggled to find our groove at first. But once we did, we really shocked our opponents–and might I say impressed them. Safe to say, I know the team will turn heads at their next no-sting nationals, and I can’t wait to see it!
Thank you to the club for helping to prepare us for this milestone. You pushed us to succeed though tough love and the genuine desire for us to do well.
Thank you to our friends, families, and supporters for letting us get this far as a brand new team.
And thank you to our coach, Erik Zander, for pushing us to be the best players we can be, even if that required pelting us with balls over and over. There’s no way we could have made this far without your hard work and the support from the team.
