Nashville, TN

By The Oxford Commakaze

In a game that was simultaneously quicksand slow and adrenaline-filled, with no fewer than nine lead changes and a tie, Victorian Roller Derby League persevered over the Minnesota RollerGirls to a 169-122 win. Both teams focused heavily on defense, pitting VRDL’s famed slow-moving diamond defense against Minnesota’s own rock-solid walls, with packs regularly taking more than a minute to move halfway around the track or allow a jammer to escape. However, it was brief moments of offense and fast footwork that racked up the most points for each team.

Photo by Ryan Quick

Minnesota got off to a quick start thanks to a series of fast hit-and-quit jams that would all but disappear as the game progressed, building up a 2-21 lead within the first five minutes. VRDL’s defense slowed Minnesota’s jammers and blockers alike, but Minnesota jammers Slambda Phage and Harmony Killerbruise relied on a killer combination of juking footwork and sheer power to barrel past those defenses. The first of many momentum shifts started just after that with a set of revolving jammer penalties for VRDL’s Giles and Minnesota’s Slamba Phage, which resulted in a power start for Minnesota in the next jam – but VRDL held Harmony Killerbruise for the full 30 seconds, allowing Giles to rush out and immediately earn lead jammer and four points on the board.

VRDL snatched the lead shortly afterwards, holding Minnesota to just one point over the next seven jams. As VRDL found its stride and built confidence in its defensive walls, blocker Perky Nah Nah started breaking away from her walls for quick offensive hits and pack-moving momentum, helping her team build up a 49-26 lead. Minnesota also relied more on its offense as the game progressed, using quick defense-to-offense switches to spring its jammers from stuck packs to keep scoring damage to a minimum.

Minnesota’s Harmony Killerbruise said that shift to an offensive focus at the beginning of the first period was the result of a gradual change to the team’s style throughout the season. “We started implementing a lot of different things. We were very defense-heavy at the beginning of the season and didn’t start playing offense until later in the season.”

That offense paid off as Minnesota turned the tables and went after VRDL’s lead, using efficient offense to capitalize on two power jams, earning them the slimmest of leads, 49-50, adding two more points in a hit-and-quit jam immediately after. But VRDL grabbed the lead right back in a slow-moving power jam right after, taking more than a minute to earn lead and only putting five points up in the power jam and subsequent pass – but it was enough to regain the lead, 54-52. Although there were fewer than five minutes left on the clock, that left plenty of time for more defensive derby action – and one more lead change. Slambda Phage put up 20 points in a single jam thanks to two successive forearm penalties to VRDL’s jammer, although Minnesota’s offense had a harder time breaking up VRDL’s diamond walls. By the time the period clock expired, Minnesota had a slim 63-77 lead.

“We’ve been in that situation before, and that’s definitely something that we’ve been trying to work on and make sure we’ve got mental resilience as well,” said VRDL’s Mad Mel Arena. “We’ve come back from losses before, and we knew that the game wasn’t necessarily going to be ours, so we tried to go out and be safe and regroup.” Simultaneous jammer penalties kicked off the second half and set the tone for the rest of the game, resulting in brief power jams and slow, defense-heavy play. Minnesota’s walls of blockers at the back slowed VRDL’s jammers but couldn’t contain them, allowing VRDL to regain the lead on a power jam in the third jam. VRDL jammer Christy Demons called the jam immediately after scoring the lead-changing grand slam to give her team a power start in the next jam to help build their lead, bringing the score to 89-77.

Photo by Joey Miller

Minnesota then put its defense to work as an offensive technique, using its formidable walls to trap two VRDL blockers, preventing the Australian team from establishing its diamond defense, which worked long enough to earn Minnesota two 10-point jams – enough to flip the score to 89-97 for yet another lead change. Although Minnesota earned lead in the next jam and held onto the top score for two more jams, VRDL kept pushing, forcing a 108-108 tie with less than fifteen minutes left in the game.

“The way the game was going, we knew essentially that the game was 0-0 at any point,” said Minnesota’s Harmony Killerbruise, explaining how the team didn’t treat the tied score any differently. “That’s what we said coming out of halftime. We knew our styles are so different, so we were both, I think, in the first period trying to get used to each other. Until the last few minutes, it wasn’t really in the bag for anybody.”

The tie was broken in the next jam, a 10-0 power jam for Minnesota that also saw them with a blocker advantage. But that lead would only last two jams after a natural 21-0 jam for VRDL’s Mad Mel Arena as VRDL’s blockers stymied Minnesota jammer Meg Gronau in the pack. This would be the final lead change, giving VRDL a 129-119 lead with seven minutes left on the clock. Minnesota tried to regroup with a timeout, but a 26-point jam for VRDL’s Swish Cariboom in the very next jam made the score chasm very wide with very little time left on the clock. VRDL held Minnesota scoreless until Slambda Phage grabbed three more points on what seemed like it would be the last jam until a perfectly timed Minnesota time out with just one second left on the clock forced a final round. Despite the powerful Minnesota effort literally down to the last second, VRDL jammer Swish Cariboom earned lead and called the jam almost immediately with the period clock expired, leaving a final score of 169-122.

“We came out strong, then we came back, then they came back. We were really proud of the way we were able to adjust to that, get back to our defensive formations – we were focusing a little bit too much on our offensive formations [by halftime],” said Harmony Killerbruise. “We were really proud at halftime of the way we were able to regroup and pull back out of that. ... I’m really proud of the way we played. We came out as hard as we could out there and stayed really calm.”

VRDL will move on to play the London Rollergirls on Saturday at 4 p.m. central time. “They’ve got our old travel team captain, so we’ve been busting to play London since forever. We didn’t want to come all the way over here from Australia just to get knocked out in the first game!” said Mad Mel Arena. “We just could not have that happen to us! So I think one jam at a time has been our motto since the first game.”

Final Score

Victorian Roller Derby League (Charleston #2) 169
Minnesota RollerGirls (Sacramento #3) 122