Stacked Season

With final exams drawing near and summer creeping up on the student’s of Ohio University, the students of Stacked, the women’s ultimate team, wrap up another great season. Stacked is one of OU’s club sports 36 teams. The goals of club sports is to allow students to “participate in a wide variety of athletic events while gaining friendships and developing valuable leadership skills.”


According for Campus Grotto, studies have shown that joining sports teams in colleges can help students. Some examples are playing helps reduce stress, helps make new friends, exercise and helps build confidence. To do this, Stacked has set up practice four days a week, Monday-Thursday afternoons. The team also ditches the OU campus a couple weekends every quarter to put their skills to the test and playing in tournaments all over the region.

Fall

Ultimate is a year round sport, so the women got to fast start at the beginning of fall quarter. Recruiting was an important goal for the team. All teams have to have seven on the field at all times at the tournament, and having large amounts of numbers at a practice is a good thing. The team’s president, Mollie Vorel stated, “this season we gained several new freshmen that were very beneficial to our team. They have added to our dynamics and have picked up the game so quickly.” The addition of six freshmen and one sophomore really did add to the team’s dynamics.

Sarah Maj was one of those freshmen, “I have always enjoyed playing sports and being competitive. However, sometimes competition can lead to poor sportsmanship and this is something I never enjoyed. Ultimate is really competitive, yet light-hearted and fun.” Maj and the rest of the team got their first taste of the competition at Club Sectionals in Versailles, OH. The competition continued at North Coast in Cleveland, OH, and Denison Extravaganza Ultimate Tournament in Granville, OH. All of those tournaments had a rewarding finish to them, with the team placing second at each tournament. Stacked also co-hosted the annual OU Halloween tournament. This one-day tournament is hosted in Athens, and teams are encouraged to dress up in costumes for the games. The results of the team’s performance were not found at the time of the story.



Winter

During the winter break, the team captains encouraged the team to use the six weeks of breaks to work on endurance. When the team got back to campus, endurance was on everybody’s minds. Due to weather, the team was forced to find other places to practice, getting only one day outside. Running and throwing were the focus on the team during the winter season.

Luckily, the team was able to test their strength in three tournaments throughout the quarter. The first one had the team traveling up to Ann Arbor, MI, to compete in the Michigan Women’s Indoor Tournament. The team also traveled down to Cincinnati, OH, to battle with several teams and Mother Nature in Artic Vogue. Due to several inches of snow, the two-day tournament got turned into a one-day, but the team pushed through the cold and snow. The outcome was worth it, a victory and the ability to call themselves Artic Vogue Champions.

Photo by Susann Krake

The winter quarter ended in sunny Statesboro, GA, where Stacked competed in College Southerns.

Spring

Spring quarter brought about several speed bumps for the team, including injuries and weather. The team began the season by traveling up to Columbus to play a two-game scrimmage against OSU’s Fever. Fever and Stacked are two of the three strongest teams in the East Plains Section. The scrimmage was to help the team gage how they would play in the College Sectionals.

The following weekend, the strong team of 20 headed up to Granville, OH, to compete in the East Plains sectionals. Stacked went up against the thirteen other teams in the section in the two-day tournament. The final outcome had Stacked losing only two games, both to Fever, and ending in third. This gave the team a bid to Great Lakes Regionals.

Photo by Sarah Soled

Heading off to Regionals was easier said than done, with Mother Nature stepping in again. This time unfortunately, the team could push through. After two rounds of play, the tournament was cancelled due to weather conditions.

The team is only losing one senior this year, Sarah Soled, who has played on Stacked for all four year. President Vorel stated, “it’s so sad that we’ll be losing our one senior next year, but I know that great things are in store for our team next season. We’ve had a year to really cover the fundamentals, and I believe that we have all the tools to be successful. Being cheated out of Regionals this year due to the rain, we all work that much harder to prove ourselves, playing the sport that we love, next year.”

And that is just what Stacked will do, play on. So looking towards next year, Stacked is working on saying goodbye to their senior and staying in shape for next year.


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