Category: Reviews

On October 28th, 2023, we took an 11 man squad to the Red Cedar Rumble in East Lansing, Michigan. In this tournament, we had hard fought battles against some of the best in the league in Michigan State and Grand Valley. Our roster consisted of five rookies and six of our veteran members. Overall, we went 0-2 on the day and only managed to score a point in each game but got tremendous experience for our rookies that made the trip worth while. That being said it is quite clear that we have fundamental things to work on but when we work as a unit we have shown that we can have moments where we can compete with anyone. Here are thoughts that some of our members had to say about the Red Cedar Rumble: 

Dylan Fabry:

“I thought that we as a team did really well against the top teams for the second tournament of the season. I thought that the rookies improved a lot compared to the first tournament and that we are headed in the right direction. The rookie that stood out the most to me was Ethan as he did a great job blocking for others on the court after they threw.”

Toryn Swartout (Rookie):

“I think the tournament went really well for our second one of the season. We did decent considering the talent of MSU and GVSU. The points we won were well earned but we have a lot we can work on.”

Caleb Laux (Captain):

“As a captain, I am really proud of how our team did. Going up against some of the best teams in the league and coming out with a point on each of them is a great sign for the young players we brought to this tournament.

It was many of our roster’s first tournament of the season, myself included. In particular, we had a few rookies get good experience. Ethan Schmeling stuck out to me as he was doing a great job. But all of our rookies have grown tremendously in the last few weeks.

With the closeness of some of the individual points despite being a player down with no subs, I believe that we made it clear that Platteville will put up a fight against any team we face and come out smiling when we give it our all.”

In the end, it was not the outcome we were hoping to have but ended up being a great experience for our newer players and we loved being able to compete with some of the best in the league. We hope to improve going forward and wish our competitors good luck with the remainder of their seasons. You can check out the games at the following links on our YouTube Channel. Make sure to subscribe to our channel to get notifications for our future games, Go ‘Neers!

1. UWP vs GVSU
2. UWP vs MSU

On October 7^th we attended the first ever Cyclone Clash. This matchup was UWP vs UNL at an agreed neutral location. This allowed both teams to have an easy drive home as well as give Iowa State a taste of what NCDA dodgeball is like in attempts to bring another club into the league. In the end, we left with an 0-2 record and a lot of work to do.

In the first match we struggled to get going, it was not until about halftime that we started to show some signs of life. Once we were able to start getting our offense going and get more ball control we started to last longer, and we did not give up any short points. We struggled with easy drops and errant throws while also running into numerous shot clock violations. After halftime, we came out in the second half showed at times where we could have gotten a point or two but ultimately took steps backwards and let things get out of hand.

After the intermission, we started game two and once again were off to a slow start. However, some of our rookies started to pick up on some aspects of the game and came out of their initial rookie nerves. UNL’s attacks still managed to get the best of us as we struggled to establish our game. We stayed in points longer than we had in the first game, but we still struggled to work as a team with the shot clock and often times let too many throws get away from us. The second game brought some additional excitement as both teams received a yellow card in the second half.

In the end, we were extremely grateful to Iowa State for allowing us to use their facilities for this tournament and hope to see a team develop in the near future. We also had a lot of fun playing our aerial rivals UNL and would like to thank them for a great tournament. An extended thank you also goes out to UW-Stout for coming down and assisting in the officiating side of things. Going forward we have plenty of room for improvement and hope to see more rust shaken off our veterans and also look forward to see more breakout performances from our rookie players.

Our next tournament will hopefully be at MSU on October 28^th followed by our home tournament on November 11th!

Just like that another year is in the books. Through the many miles on the road and the late night practices, many memories were made. Fighting through injuries, snow storms, and the long drives through flat never-ending states; we survived. We laughed, we fought, we had our share of sand kicked in our face, but we kept pushing forward.

Continue reading “2022-23 End of the Year Recap”