Nashville, TN

By Lexistential Crisis

Day two of the international 2014 WFTDA Championships started with another close and defense-heavy game that featured slow walls and well-timed offense. In their first game of the weekend, the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (Salt Lake City Seed #1, #3) quickly took the lead and held it against Denver Roller Dolls (Sacramento Seed #2, #8). These two teams played each other twice this year with Bay Area winning by 108 in April and 142 in July. Denver improved on their previous games by coming within 39 points of Bay Area.

Photo by Donna Olmstead

Bay Area started the game with a power jam as Bucsek cut the track. After slowing the pack Bay Area’s Murderyn Monroe actively broke up Denver’s wall to help Bricktator score their first 20 points. Denver’s Quigley, Salvador, Lester and Akers were able to prevent Lulu Lockjaw from taking advantage of a second power jam in the third jam of the game, but Bay Area was able to continue to grow their score by effectively playing defense and offense simultaneously in other jams. After about fifteen minutes of slow packs that rarely reached turn three the scoreboard read 63-15 in favor of Bay Area.

To finish the first half Denver was able to add an additional 45 points to their total and limit Bay Area to only 29 more points. Denver’s braced walls and backwards blockers were able to hold back Bay Area’s jammers while their jammers found ways to sneak through Bay Area’s packs. At the half, Bay Area had 92 points over Denver’s 60.

Photo by Ryan Quick

Both teams used a strategy that hasn’t been seen much since 30 second penalties began when they called off jams while the opposing jammer was still in the box. This allowed each team a few chances to start with only their jammer on the jammer line. Total jammer penalties were fairly even as Bay Area’s jammers had nine box trips while Denver’s jammers committed 10 penalties.

The second half started with slightly faster packs, as the blockers were reaching turns three and four more often. Denver continued to build strong, diamond-shaped walls to stop Bay Area’s jammers, but Bay Area maintained their lead and never allowed Denver to tie the game or force a lead change.

Bay Area’s defensive strategy was slightly different than most of the strategies seen in Nashville so far. Instead of building braced walls with some backwards skaters, Bay Area often started in solid three- or four-blocker walls with the everyone facing forward and used plow stops for control. They easily transitioning to braced walls, and were successful containing Denver’s jammers in many defensive formations.

Photo by Bob Ayers

With 15 minutes left in the game, the score was 141-93. Sharpless and Williams added 10 and 14 points to Denver’s total while Huck Sinn and Bricktator added 13 and 10 for Bay Area. The final score was 169 for Bay Area and 130 for Denver.

Bricktator led scoring for Bay Area with 61 points while Wilhelm and Williams both scored 32 for Denver. Bay Area plays again at 6:30 pm CDT today in the semifinals against either Windy City or Rose City.

Final Score

B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls (Salt Lake City Seed #1) 169
Denver Roller Dolls (Sacramento Seed #2) 130