The Paper Valley Roller Girls hosted the first of a series of five home doubleheaders at Skater’s Edge in Appleton, WI. The evenings first bout featured the PVRG Flyin’ Squirrels versus the Sioux City Roller Dames. The second bout featured the PVRG All-Stars versus G-Rap Attack! of Grand Rapids, MI.
The Flyin’ Squirrels took to the track sporting sharp new uniforms and a fresh new logo courtesy of Bob Noxious. With Bob looking on, microphone in hand, the Flyin’ Squirrels took to the track. For five Flyin’ Squirrels this bout represented their first opportunity to show off their derby skills in front of friends and family for the first time. They didn’t disappoint, as they rolled to 146-82 victory.
Rookie jammers Msjf and Kat Von D-vious added depth and scoring punch to the Squirrels jammer rotation. Sophomore jammer, Cyanide Ride, impressed by flashing fancy footwork and speed. Cyanide led all scorers with 66 points and earned lead on 8 of 11 attempts. Flyin’ Squirrels captain, Amy Grindhouse, was a model of consistency adding 41 points of her own. Credit has to be given to the Flyin’ Squirrel blockers, for opening holes for their jammers and for building and recycling their defensive walls. For Sioux City, Roxy R Soxoff and Sum Mo Payne led SCRD with 34 and 19 points respectively. Funsize proved to be a crowd favorite, and proved that big things can come in small packages.
The second bout featured a rematch between teams that hooked up for 88-69 thriller in Grand Rapids nearly one year prior. In that bout, PVRG trailed at the break, but came from behind to notch the win. In the rematch, the PVRG All-Stars made it clear that they were not interested in relying on a second period turn-a-bout this time around. PVRG exploded for high point jams early, even eschewing their normal “point prevention” style in the night’s first jam in favor of a offensive shoot out. The PVRG defense was up to the task as well. After surrendering 8 points in the evening’s first jam, PVRG shut out G-Rap Attack in the next 8 jams on their way to a comfortable 156-15 lead at the break. G-Rap used the intermission to plot a strategy to slow the PVRG offense. While their second half defense was stingy, especially in the back of the pack, the lead was too much to overcome. PVRG cruised to a 240-54 win.
PVRG blockers controlled the pack, as evidenced by the fact that PVRG jammers earned lead on 73% of the jams. PVRG expanded their jammer rotation as the bout continued, resulting in 8 different jammers tallying for PVRG. Pissy Pistol led PVRG with 87 points in 9 attempts and Chop Stikya with 82 points in 10 attempts. Keisha Mei Ash carried the jamming load for the visitors, toeing the line 12 times and scoring 21 points. Lucy Morals was G-Rap’s most efficient jammer, scoring 23 points on only 5 attempts.