With stunning victory, Towson University can finally celebrate a national title — in dodgeball

With stunning(ˈstəniNG) victory(ˈvikt(ə)rē), Towson(ˈtousən) University can finally celebrate(ˈseləˌbrāt) a national(ˈnaSHənəl) title — in dodgeball(ˈdäjˌbôl)

By Edward(ˈedwərd) Lee

Towson University’s varsity(ˈvärsətē) sports programs have not won(wän) a national championship(ˈCHampēənˌSHip) since 1974, when the men’s lacrosse(-ˈkräs,ləˈkrôs) team edged(ej) Hobart(ˈhōˌbärt) in the NCAA’s first Division(dəˈviZHən) II tournament(ˈto͝or-,ˈtərnəmənt) final.

Over the weekend, however, the school’s dodgeball club captured its first national crown. The No. 2 seed(sēd) in the National Collegiate(kəˈlēj(ē)ət) Dodgeball Association(-SHē-,əˌsōsēˈāSHən) tournament, the Tigers upset 10-time reigning(rāniNG) national titlist(ˈtīd(ə)ləst) Grand Valley(ˈvalē) State on Sunday on the Lakers’ home court(kôrt) inside the Fieldhouse Arena(əˈrēnə) in Allendale, Mich.

The victory is still sinking in with a couple of players.

“There was a point when I was just sitting(ˈsidiNG) down for about 10 minutes, and was saying, ‘What just happened?’ over and over again,” senior(ˈsēnyər) and club vice(vīs,ˈvīsē,ˈvīsə) president David(ˈdāvid) Guare(grərē) said recently. “I’m still kind of thinking about what happened.”

Added senior Colin(lən) Sporer: “I know that we’re all walking around with our national championship T-shirts on. I’m just at a loss(läs,lôs) for words. I still can’t believe that it happened.”

Towson(ˈtousən), which went 23-4 in the regular-season, had fallen short of expectations(ˌekspekˈtāSH(ə)n) in the past, losing(lo͞oz) to Kentucky(kənˈtəkē) in the first round of the national tournament in 2016 and Michigan(ˈmiSHiɡən) State and Bowling(ˈbōliNG) Green in the quarterfinals(ˈkwôrtərˌfīnl) in 2017 and 2018, respectively(rəˈspektivlē). Last weekend, the club defeated(dəˈfēdəd) the Wildcats in Saturday’s(ˈsadərˌdā, ˈsadərdē) round-robin format(ˈfôrˌmat) and the Falcons(ˈfalkən,ˈfôl-) in the quarterfinals before ousting(oust) the Spartans(ˈspärtn) in the semifinals(ˌsemēˈfīnl, ˌsemīˈfīnl) Sunday.

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https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-towson-university-national-champion-competitive-dodgeball-20190417-story.html