Asheville, NC

By Beth Row

Defense was the theme of Game 10 of the 2013 D1 Playoffs in Asheville, NC. Both the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls from Denver, CO and Windy City Rollers from Chicago, Illinois held back their opposing jammer for 45 seconds in the first jam, setting the tone for the game. After trading jammer penalties for an exciting last jam, Rocky Mountain pulled out a narrow 150-133 win.

“This was an incredibly tough game. Windy is an incredible competitor,” said Rocky Mountain’s Fiona Grapple. “I’m really proud of our team because we were able to battle back from some penalties, to remain focused. Windy is awesome; it was a very difficult game for us.”

Jackie Daniels finally broke free of a difficult Rocky Mountain defense 45 seconds into the first jam, but Sweet Mary Pain exited the pack shortly after. Daniels had to call the jam with no score. Varla Vendetta got out for lead jammer on the second jam while Casstrator went to the box with a track cut. The second jam ended with the score 0-3, Windy. Ying O’Fire continued the power jam to make the score 0-14, 25 minutes left.

Alpha Q Up picked up the first lead jammer status for Rocky Mountain, while Jackie Daniels was called for a track cut. Alpha put 20 points on the board and gave Rocky Mountain their first lead at 20-14.

The next few jams saw very fast packs, which worked to Rocky’s favor as the scoreboard read 30-16 with 20:12 left in the first half.

But 2 lead jam calls in a row, helped Windy to eat away at the Rocky lead. Windy pulled it within 7 at 30-23, 17:53 left in the period.

Alpha Q Up and Rocky Mountain landed a power jam as Varla Vendetta was sent to the penalty box. Even with a brutal hit for Sargentina on Alpha, Alpha picked 5 points on her last pass before calling it 45-23. Sweet Mary Pain also faced a power jam as Varla Vendetta committed a back block penalty fresh from the box. Sweet Mary Pain put 15 points on the board and called it off.

Casstrator went up against Sargentina, Bork, Bork, Bork, Tamikaze for Windy City’s defense and Varla snuck through the pack, picking up 3 points when released from the box.

Ying O’ Fire started to bring it back for Windy, picking up lead jammer and points. The score read 68-35 just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half.

A track cut call on Windy’s Athena Decrime left Casstrator for Rocky on a power jam, but Casstrator was also called for a track cut. Athena Decrime made Rocky Mountain pay for Casstrator’s penalty by pushing the score to 73-45.

Casstrator traded spots in the box with Varla Vendetta. Casstrator slipped through and called it after 5 points. Both teams traded jammer takeouts and tough defense and the score creeped up for both teams. The score read 88-45 with two minutes to play in the half.

Both teams matched up evenly through the rest of the first half. The half ended with Rocky Mountain up 91-57.

A pair of scoreless jams opened up the start of the second half. Sargentina then forced a track cut on Alpha Q Up with Killa Nois out as lead jammer. Rocky Mountain’s tough power jam defense forced the jam to be called after Windy pulled within 20, 91-71 on the scoreboard and 26 minutes left. Bork, Bork, Bork; Ruth Enasia; KonichiWOW and Moby Nipps suffocated Alpha Q Up to bring the game to a tie at 91 with just under 24 minutes left in the game. Sweet Mary Pain fought through a tough Windy defense for 3 hard-earned points, 94-91. Jackie Daniels picked up lead on the very next jam, but didn’t call it in time to prevent Rocky from picking up 2 to Jackie’s 3. The score was 96-94 in favor of Rocky Mountain. Windy was able to tie it up once again at 96 with 20 minutes left, but Sweet Mary Pain got out of the pack for lead jam on the following jam picking up 3 points.

Rocky Mountain added a few points on the board slowly over the next few jams, but Jackie Daniels got the edge over Alpha Q Up and put up sufficient points in one jam to tie the score at 101 with 16:34 left.

The defensive battle continued and the teams traded points and the lead. A lead jammer call for Jackie Daniels had a lead change to Windy City 112-113 with 9 minutes left. Varla Vendetta and Ying O Fire added 4 and 3 respectively, bringing the score to 112-120 with 5:07 left.

A track cut on Killa Nois left Toxic Taunic with a power jam and lead jammer status. The jam ended with 132-120 Rocky Mountain on top and Windy City’s jammer in the box. Casstrator took lead jammer but Yvette Yourmaker, Sargentina, Moby Nipps and KonichiWOW held Rocky Mountain to just 5 points as Killa Nois fought her way through a strung out Rocky Mountain defense in the front. The score read 140-125 with 1:36 left.

Ying O’ Fire fought through for lead jam for Windy City and Alpha Q Up sent to the box on a track cut, but Rocky Mountain wasn’t giving in. They sent Ying to the floor hard and forced her to call the jam. Windy’s coach called a timeout with 38 seconds left and 140-129 on the scoreboard.

Athena Decrime got through for lead jam to finish out the power jam, but she picked up a back block while trying to score points. Alpha Q Up was released for the penalty box and added to Rocky Mountain’s total. Both jammers were fighting for points at the jam’s conclusion, but Alpha had accrued more. In an effort to get more time, Windy City contested the back block call on Athena Decrime on the last jam. The call stood and the final remained 150-133 in a very exciting game between Rocky Mountain and Windy City.

“We came out really strong at the beginning, playing our game. We knew what we need to do. We got a little flustered towards the end of the first half, brought it back in at half time and brought it back to playing our game – tight walls and tight transitions,” said Bork, Bork, Bork, Windy City. “Unfortunately it didn't work out the way we needed it to, but I think with 5 more minutes, it would have been a different outcome.”

final score

(2) Rocky Mountain Rollergirls 150
(3) Windy City Rollers 133

Rocky Mountain goes on to play Gotham Girls Roller Derby in the 1st place bout and will advance to the WFTDA Championships. Windy City will play Minnesota RollerGirls for 3rd place and the final Championships slot from Asheville.