Blind Ding: UPA Nationals Day 1

So Day 1 of the UPA College Nationals began at 8:30am. We left our hotel around 7:45 to beat the traffic and arrived at the site at around 8:15. The site was awesome. It was quite a site as we walked in from the gate. Pool play began around 8:30 so when we got there, all we saw were teams warming up, pumping themselves up, getting themselves ready for the game. We started off the day at the booths that were selling Nationals merchandise. I picked up a couple discs for some friends and then we wandered onto the field, looking for a good game to watch.

We decided to watch Wisconsin vs. Stanford, and I'm glad we did since it turned out to be a good game. Stanford was up 2 breaks before the defending champs clawed their way back (mostly because of their ridiculous deep game) and won 15-13. We then made our way over to watch the women's side, with BLU playing against Maryland. BLU played well with great handling from Taz and D from gizmo, along with overall solid play from KIX and Cozmo.

During the next round, we watched Colorado play Santa Cruz, as well as Florida play Delaware. Both games were pretty lop-sided so I walked over to watch Stanford play Arizona. That turned out to be a good game as both teams were pretty evenly matched, with Arizona pulling out the win eventually.

The 3rd and 4th rounds started 1/2 an hour apart (4:00 and 4:30) and it was really difficult to watch since there were so many great games on. How do you choose between watching Carlton vs. Colorado or watching Wisconsin vs. Arizona. So what we did was watch the first half of the latter, and then RUN our butts over to field 1 to watch Carlton vs. Colorado. I was hoping that the games would be closer, but they both turned out to be one-sided with Colorado and Wisconsin winning by 6 and 9 respectively.

Although these games were about over, our attention switched over to watching our fellow UC team, Santa Cruz play against Dartmouth. They were up 3 or 4 but we saw Dartmouth mount a huge comeback and beat Santa Cruz. That meant that BOTH Northwest teams (Stanford and SC) were 0-3 and had no shot at quarters. =/

The attention of the tournament then went over to the Michigan vs. Texas game of Pool D. This pool already had 2 upsets and in this game, Texas was 0-2 and fighting for a chance to really stay in the tournament. When i got there, it was 13's. The teams traded points and it was an overall intense last couple points. Imagine the ENTIRE sideline and back end lines filled with other teams, spectators, cheering on Texas. That's what it was like. Texas eventually lost Universe point, and that left Texas at 0-3 and without a chance for the title.

We left the tournament satisfied, and look forward to the quarterfinal games for tomorrow.

Highlights

-Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Bloodthirsty went up 2 breaks on the defending champs and played very well. However; Wisconsin established the deep game and took the game 15-13.

- Michigan vs. Georgia
First upset of the day as Georgia upset Michigan in Pool D.

- Wisconsin vs. Arizona
The rematch of the TiV final proved to be a lopsided victory for the Hodags as they won 15-6

- Colorado vs. Carleton
Colorado goes up 8-2 at half on Carleton en route to a 15-9 win.

- Stanford and Santa Cruz
Both Northwest regional teams go 0-3 in pool-play, both losing their 3rd seed in their pools and dropping out of contention of the National Title.

Some pictures from the day: