Nashville (#5) narrowly defeats Jacksonville (#10)

By Shelly Shankya

The first game of Day 2 at Landlocked Lace Up between Nashville Rollergirls (#5) and Jacksonville Rollergirls (#10) was like a double shot of espresso: it gave the crowd jitters and got things off to a powerful start at Pershing Arena.

Photo by Taura Horn Photography

Nashville held Jacksonville scoreless for the first six jams, but a faulted apex jump by Nashville jammer Sugar Magmaulya landed her in the penalty box. This opened the door for Jacksonville to score some points.

The point grabbing was no easy task, however, as the game ended up being intensely physical. The two teams shared penalty time almost equally, but the flip-flopping pack advantages made it difficult for Nashville to keep the point spread even. At the end of the period, Nashville held on to a slim lead over 10-seed Jacksonville, 122-95.

"We play every game never underestimating any team," Nashville blocker Lady Fury said. "No matter what their seed or placement, we try to play clean and hard. We were a little disappointed after yesterday's game; it was a hard fought game, but we wanted to come back out today and play tough to leave the tournament in the seed we came in with."

After the break, the speed and intensity picked up just where it left off from the first half. Jacksonville gave Nashville a power jam in the second jam, and 4-Leaf Roller used it as an opportunity to put 13 more points between them and the ladies from Florida. In the sixth jam, however, Jacksonville jammer Miley Virus grabbed 25 points in a power jam to begin the team's charge to close the gap, but not until after receiving the tough end of several Nashville blocks. At two different times in the second half, Jacksonville had closed the gap to 16 points, and then just 10.

"It was an awesome game, and we've got a lot of motivation to keep doing well," Miley Virus said. "We're a young team, and we practice with some of the top men's roller derby players. I think we're used to tough hits, and that just makes us stronger."

The game came down to the last jam with a 20-point spread between the two "Ville" teams. Veteran Maulin Monroe went in to jam for Nashville, and Nuke was on the line for Jacksonville. The Nashville bench was atwitter, holding their breath for the win. Nuke got lead jammer, and Maulin never made it through the pack for the 2-minute jam. Nuke's 10 points weren't enough to take the win, however, and Nashville will advance to play Omaha in Game 11 later on Saturday. Jacksonville will play for 9th Place on Day 3.

"We've got to stay out of the box and play a clean game," Fury said. "We're excited to play Omaha. They're a bunch of tough skaters and big gals, but I'm small, so I'm excited to see how it goes. They're gonna make us work for the win."

Nashville Rollergirls (#5) 202
Jacksonville Rollergirls (#10) 192