A tournament that had been dormant for three years finally awoke last week.
On Friday, November 30, the Roller Courts at Tabor Academy played host to a dodgeball tournament that pitted dormitories and day students against each other.
This was the first time Tabor has had a dorm vs. dorm dodgeball tournament since the Fall of 2009, when there were six different teams made out of allying dorms in a competition called Dorm Wars.
The tournament received lots of popularity as there were sixteen teams in total, as well as impressive attendance to this event.
Student Activities Director Chris Millette was very optimistic with the tournament’s future.
“I thought the tournament went very well,” he said. “Making it a dorm event was very productive, and I really liked the energy and excitement each dorm brought to the gym.”
The bracket was set up so that the boys would compete against boys and girls would go up against girls. In the end, the remaining boys and girls team would play in the championship.
In the preliminary round, Williams Dorm defeated Foscle to enter the first round, but Makepeace shut them down. However, sophomore Charlie Clipstone made a valiant effort on his own and came close to pulling off a stunning comeback.
Makepeace once again found themselves in a hole in their second matchup against Lillard North 2/3, who defeated the day student boys in the first round. Lillard had Makepeace down to their last guy, but Makepeace dug deep and eventually outlasted Lillard to reach the semifinals.
“I think that we performed well under a lot of pressure, and we made a statement with our wins,” said Makepeace resident, senior and dodgeball player Brian Goldaber.
Other results included Lillard North 1 defeating New House and West House, with both wins requiring lengthy struggles to defeat the last player.
On the girls’ side, Bushnell moved into the quarterfinals by default and took on the winner of Baxter and Lillard East. This matchup was highlighted by Lydia Caputi’s marvelous catches as she showed her skills as the starting varsity soccer goalie, to give Baxter the win.
However, Bushnell still overcame these catches in the quarterfinals and moved on to the semifinals.
Finally, Heath and Lillard South wound up in a nail-biting finish. Kelsey Shakin from Heath and Izzy Nappa from Lillard South were the only two players left on the court, and Shakin came through by making a clutch catch. Heath moved on to the semifinals by default.
The semifinals and championship game will be played on Friday, December 7 with Makepeace taking on Lillard North 1 and Heath taking on Bushnell. The winners will then duel for the championship.
By Nicholas Veronesi
