Dallas, TX

By Shelly Shankya

In the first fully international game of Day 1 at the 2015 International WFTDA Division 1 Playoffs in Dallas, Texas, the Sun State Roller Girls of Brisbane, Australia (#7) took on the #10 seed, Rideau Valley Roller Girls of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. After what started out as a nail-biting back-and-forth game for the two teams, Rideau Valley's slowly lost their grip and their hold on the jammers from down under.

Photo by Duane Baker

No doubt battling nerves and jet lag, the two teams started the game with slips, costing each points that led to a lead swap for the first half of the first period. In the first jam, Rideau Valley lost three blockers to the penalty box, leaving blocker Rudolph alone on the track to stop the Sun State jammer Lady Killer. Jammer penalties also affected the scoreboard, as on more than two occasions the teams had jammer do-si-do moments at the penalty box.

While Sun State took the early lead, Rideau Valley kept things close; there were four lead changes in the first 10 jams of the period. Two cut track penalties for Rideau Valley’s Soul Rekker gave Sun State the chance to widen the point spread with a 15-point jam from Trauma Junkie (her first of two 15-pointers in the half). Rideau took a timeout with 10:34 left in the period. Blocker Reyes used the timeout to regroup for Rideau, blocking to force a call-off from Sun State jammer Jambi. At the end of the period, however, Sun State managed to extend the team’s lead to almost double Rideau Valley’s, 90-47.

“Training is very intense for us,” Sun State jammer Trauma Junkie said. “We know that it is never okay for our blockers to be by themselves. We work to always have a buddy on the floor. Without a buddy, our play gets messy.”

Photo by Christopher Cross

After a relatively clean first half of play, Sun State came out in the second and struggled with penalties, opening the door for Rideau Valley to take advantage of power jams. In the first three jams, Sun State jammer Lady Killer committed two track cuts in two jams, and Rideau Valley jammers Shania Pain and Soul Rekker improved the Vixens’s score by 20 points. The momentum shift, however, didn’t last after Sun State took a timeout to reevaluate strategy and jammer rotation with 22:11 left in the game. After the timeout, Sun State rotated in several new jammers, including team captain Rose Ruin, who managed to bring 24 points to her team, the highest scoring jam in the game.

“Luckily for us, we’ve got a very slight team,” Trauma Junkie said. “We train to be an all-around team so that we can share jammer responsibilities, especially when we’re in the lead. It worked out nicely for us during this game.”

Rideau Valley refused to give up, though, stealing lead jammer six jams in a row in the game’s final seven. The fatigue of fighting the Sun State Swarm wasn’t enough for the Vixen jammers, who in those six jams—three of which were power jams—scored 30 points. What had a been a 100-point lead for Sun State dwindled to a 78-point lead, enough to advance them to Game 5 on Friday night at 6:00 against Texas Rollergirls (#2). Rideau Valley moves to the consolation bracket to play in Game 7 on Saturday morning against the loser of Game 3.

“Being at a tournament is a bit scary for us,” Trauma Junkie said. “Australia has a tight roller derby community, and we play each other a lot. There’s a depth of teams at tournaments like this, and we don’t know quite what we’re in for. But we also enjoy the opportunity to adapt to new teams’ strategies.”

FINAL SCORE

Sun State Roller Girls (#7) 196
Rideau Valley Roller Girls (#10) 118