Texas Women's Regionals

by Michelle Ng

Texas Women’s Ultimate sent two teams to South Regionals in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 25-26. After months of practice and conditioning and winning the Texas Section in early April, Melee had high hopes of earning one of the two bids to Nationals. Unfortunately, despite playing some of their best ultimate of the season, Melee finished 3rd, losing to St. Louis 14-11 in the game-to-go to Nationals. Here is a recap of some of Melee’s big games and highlights from the weekend:

Saturday Pool Play
Texas v. Truman State
The first round of Regionals featured a rematch of both the '07 and '08 South Regionals finals. With a fairly strong wind, Texas did a fantastic job of adjusting their defense to the upwind / downwind conditions. Truman's offense was stifled by Texas' hard fronting man D going upwind and the wind carried nearly all of Tsunami's hucks too far going downwind. Texas worked the disc well against Truman's zone and used the entire field to score in both directions. It was very evident in this game that Melee's throws across the board were much stronger than most other teams'. They scored fairly easily in both directions, utilizing a number of players. Becca Shelton's breakmark backhand set up easy scores for Melee and a number of younger players, including speedy cutters Whitney Miller and Darbi Donaldson got in on the scoring action. Janel Venzant and Rachel "Chump" Massey also played great ultimate, taking on huge roles for Melee as sophomores. They, along with captain Katie "BS" Blyth, will carry the team next year. Texas took half 6-0 and didn't look back, winning the game 10-2.

Texas. v. St. Louis
One of the most anticipated matchups of the weekend was the Texas v. St. Louis pool play game. The two teams had not played each other all spring and both teams were regarded by many as the most athletic in the Region. Texas looked jittery at the start of the game, leading to a couple of easy St. Louis breaks. The matchup between Kara O'Malley and Stephanie Redfern was intense and incredibly fun to watch. They are both very strong cutters and have great closing speed and hops. They guarded each other exclusively in this game, trading Ds and scores back and forth and wowing people with their abilities.

Redfern's play carried Texas this game. She got numerous jaw-dropping Ds and caught several scores under intense pressure. She played the vast majority of points and never seemed to get tired, providing Texas with significant firepower on both sides of the disc, even while matched up against one of the best players in the Region. Early in the game, the Texas cutters did a great job of getting open and setting up their cuts but some St. Louis poaching seemed to break up Texas' flow and set the offense back a bit. Break throws from Blyth and Shelton helped to alleviate this problem, but more aggressive strong side cutting would probably have helped the Texas offense during the middle part of the game. St. Louis won the game fairly easily 11-8.

Sunday Bracket Play
Texas v. Vanderbilt (Backdoor Semis)
The Texas v. Vanderbilt game was much closer than the 15-7 score reflects. The teams traded points early, with Texas taking half 8-5. In the end, Texas' depth carried them to victory with contributions from across the board. Redfern dominated the deep game while Blyth was open consistently with her in-cuts. Lauren "Ralphie" McKinney, who had arrived in Little Rock Saturday night, showed off her fresh legs, shredding the field and keeping the Texas offense moving. And again, Shelton got off numerous breakmark throws to jump start the offense and also controlled the deep space on D. Toward the end of the game, Vanderbilt looked very tired, with many of their studs backing the Texas cutters by yards, allowing Texas to move the disc down the field with their short game and allowing them to pull away with the victory.

Texas v. St. Louis (Backdoor Finals Game-To-Go)
Last year, St. Louis beat Texas at Throwdown, opening Melee's eyes to another program on the rise in the South. While Texas ended St. Louis' season last year in quarterfinals of South Regionals, no one overlooked the scrappiness and potential of St. Louis and many felt that they would be a top team coming into this season. Texas looked much more confident going into this game than they did in Saturday's pool play game, but still could not manage to shut down St. Louis' deep game which led to a couple of easy breaks early on. Texas fought back, getting several key Ds and managed to come within one or tie it at several points in the first half. After half, Texas moved to a box-and-one defense and forced the disc into the hands of some of the weaker St. Louis throwers. The defense produced several easy turns and allowed Texas to tie the game at 10s on a Callahan by Massey. However, St. Louis didn't let the momentum turn and fought back to get the next point and to close out the game 14-11, earning the 2nd bid to Nationals.

The Region is clearly deeper than it was several years ago and this past weekend was an exciting display of the Region's growth. Congratulations to Melee and Mayhem on a great season! Way to make us proud!