Passing judgment on the highlights and lowlights of an epic couple of days in Cascadia.
March 24, 2024 by Emmet Holton in News with 0 comments
Plenty of intrigue was afoot in Seattle on Friday and Saturday as a bevy of top-25 teams showed off their final (or near-final) forms before heading into the Series. A pair of top seeds confirmed everything we know about them, a pair of Southwest hopefuls notched big wins as they fight for the strength bid scraps, a pair of Colorado D-liners played like All-Americans, and a pair of tough days out at the fields close a difficult chapter in the ongoing story of the Best Team Never to Make Nationals. We try to organize all the biggest storylines with the help of a simple Stock Watch.
Stock Up
Colorado Mamabird’s Ceiling
On a day marked by many a close game between the top teams and their much lower ranked opponents, #6 Colorado Mamabird fell into no such trap. Bird got their day started against a #16 Oregon State team riding a lot of buzz after an impressive Presidents Day Invite showing and good win against #19 BYU CHI on Friday night. After the two traded to 2-1, Colorado’s defense kicked into a completely different gear, rattling off 12 straight breaks to 14-1 before ceding a final hold, ending the game 15-2. After dispatching UCLA 15-9 they put together another defensive masterclass, this time in the much anticipated pool one seed crossover against #9 Carleton CUT.
After a dominant 8-4 first half, Calvin Stoughton, Zeke Thoreson, and Tucker Kalmus again kicked it into a new gear, pulling away to 12-4, before giving up a final pair of holds to close the game out 15-6. With Nathan Buchholz, Aylen Learned, and Atkin Arnstein all cleated up and playing, this team looks improved from what were already impressive showings at Presidents Day Invite and Smoky Mountain Invite. If they are able to continue this kind of intensity and execution on Sunday, they are a very real threat to take home top honors. If they can play this way in Madison they might well find themselves in a winnable semifinal.
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