November 9th, 2024 the UW-Platteville Dodgeball Club hosted its fifth Pioneer Classic tournament. The turnout was the best we’ve had for a while with UNL and UIUC making the trip to see us, and Stout teamed up with Eau Claire to form a mixed team. UWP also hosted our first no-sting match with the women who showed up for a 5 vs 4 match.
UWP vs UNL
Our first game of the day was against UNL, a team we haven’t beaten since 2020. UNL came with a team of thirteen.
The first game started with a strong attack from UWP. We used to struggle with the first point or even the first game of the day, but we were able to get quick counters off which allowed us to stay on our back line. This is a very impactful strategy to use against teams like UNL and UIUC because they are teams that thrive on their back line. It also helps us conserve energy by not having to run up for an attack and then back-peddle all the way back to the baseline.
This game was a great way to start off the day. UWP took one point in the first half and the other two in the second half. Each point was long, most notably by how only three points were completed during this game. UWP worked really hard for this victory, and were are really grateful for our team’s dedication to achieve this goal.
Final score was UWP 3-0 UNL
UWP vs UIUC
UIUC has a unique strategy. They are more chaotic than most teams we’ve played, but they are able to use it to their advantage. That unpredictability causes us to stumble and fall into their fast play style. Additionally, they are a team that frequently throws off the opening rush, which causes our fastest players to get out immediately. They also throw resets to the point where it seems like they don’t have a shot clock; these throws are solely meant to reset the clock instead of getting an out.
It takes great team chemistry to pull off the strategy that UIUC utilizes, and it is a tough monster to play. Although we were unable to beat them this time, we are looking forward to future tournaments where we can showcase our strong on-court communication and hard counters.
Final score was UWP 2-4 UIUC
UWP vs Eau Claire/Stout
It’s always exciting to see how the Stout and Eau Claire teams improve since the last time we played them. This time they played as a united team I have executively decided to call Eau Stout.
We pride ourselves on never playing down to a team if we believe they are less skilled or experienced. Both UW-Stout and UW-Eau Claire are brand new teams, but when they combine, they fill in the spots that were lacking and become a stronger team. It is always fun to play them and witness their growth from the beginning.
Final score was UWP 5-1 Eau Claire/Stout
UWP Women’s Match
We were able to successfully host our first women’s no-sting match ever at UWP! The rules for no-sting are very different than the co-ed format, most significantly is the court size and number of players. Each team can have up to six players on the court at one time, and the court is the same size as a volleyball court. Additionally, there are only six balls in play at one time compared to the ten balls in co-ed dodgeball, and the shot clock drops from fifteen seconds to twelve seconds.
To say it was a learning curve is an understatement. Our two women vets had only played co-ed until this point, and our rookie women haven’t had much tournament experience.
The game had five UWP women against a mixed team of one player from UIUC, one from UW-Stout, and two from UW-Eau Claire. Due to this match being the first time we played on such a small court with a smaller neutral zone, we stepped over the attack line once, and I personally stepped out of bounds twice. Hopefully, with more practice, we can commit the court size to memory so we can play dodgeball even in our sleep!
Final score was UWP 4-6 Mixed
Afterthoughts
This was an extremely fun and exhausting tournament to partake in. We are also very grateful to the WSUP Radio Club for commentating on the tournament and for the time they took to learn the game. We are also very excited to kick off our Women’s team journey with our friends, families, and former players by our side. Keep your eye out for our future tournaments and women’s matches we hope to play!
