(u) Burning River v. (u) Connecticut (10:30am)

In a battle of two newer, Division III teams, Cleveland's Burning River will be looking for their first WFTDA win (they went down to unranked Naptown in February and lost by 100 points to #8 Detroit in March.) Connecticut has a 1-2 WFTDA record, having defeated unranked Long Island 106-61 in October but solidly lost their last two games to #15 Providence and unranked Maine -- although they did notch a non-sanctioned win over Boston's B team on May 15th, 85-44.

Skaters to watch: Connecticut brings a particularly dangerous pair of agile jammers in Black Cherry and captain Pearl Jammer; Burning River's highest scoring jammer against the tough Detroit defense was Eva Lucien.

(23) Grand Raggidy v. (26) Cincinnati (11:00am)

The outcome of this one is huge to both team's hopes for an invite to October's Eastern Regionals -- only the top 12 teams from the East get to go, and currently Grand Raggidy hovers at #13 in the East while Cincinnati holds #14. Grand Raggidy looks to be fairly strong right now -- they had a respectable 87-44 loss to #7 Windy City in April and then really turned some heads by falling just 12 points shy of shocking #8 Detroit on May 31. Cincinnati's been very busy thus far in 2008, with wins over unranked Naptown, #31 Fort Wayne and #35 Steel City, but they haven't had much luck against higher-ranked teams, losing solidly to #16 Boston (87-42 in May) and #9 Philly (102-32 just one week later.)

Cincinnati's Sadistic Sadie has quickly made a national reputation for herself as one of the game's speediest jammers, while Jackie Daniels and Dot Matrix of Grand Raggidy key a team increasingly known for an effective team defense.

(13) Charm City vs. (24) Houston (12:30pm)

Baltimore's Charm City rolls into this matchup enjoying a four-game win streak that has seen them rise from #22 to #13, but Houston recently gained loads of experience in California at May's Roll for the Cure tourney, where they lost three of four bouts but faced off against heavyweights #10 Bay Area, #11 Rose City and #12 Minnesota – giving the Minnesota girls a scare at 97-83. (Houston's one win in Cali was a 97-75 win over unranked OC.)

CCRG brings crowd-pleasing duo Joy Collision and Dolly Rocket to the party, but a question for Charm City will be whether oft-injured but very effective blocker Holly Go Hardly will be at 100 percent after sitting out Charm City's last home bout. For Houston, the agile Death By Chocolate and speedy The Prosecutor will be trying to lead the Texans to an upset win.

(17) Madison vs. (31) Fort Wayne (1:00pm)

Formerly dominant in the Eastern region, Madison has been trying to get back on track for the last twelve months, with only 1 WFTDA win in the past year (over #25 Denver on May 31.) Last week they went down to a tough 132-74 loss to #7 Windy City. Fort Wayne caused a stir last June when they came within 2 points of surprising Grand Raggidy, 84-82, but they haven't had a lot of success this year, getting a 100-35 schooling from Cincinnati and losing a close one to #36 Brew City (63-55) before finally getting their first WFTDA win with a 72-70 squeaker over St. Louis' Arch Rival Roller Girls.

Madison's crew is somewhat changed since last year, but still brings vets Darling Nikki, Jenny Knoxville and Back Doris to scenic Feasterville. The ladies of Fort Wayne haven't played too many bouts outside of the Midwest, so this stands as an excellent chance for East Coast derby fans to get to see what they can do.

(16) Boston vs. (14) Rocky Mountain (2:30pm)

Many scouting eyes will be on this clash between two tough mid-level teams, as both teams seem certain to be dangerous in their respective regional tournaments. After an extremely hard-fought 115-97 loss to #13 Charm City in March, Denver's Rocky Mountain is on a three-game winning streak, squashing #15 Providence at home by 128 points in May and then beating #19 Arizona and #27 Pikes Peak in away games by solid but not overwhelming margins (76-53 over AZRD, and 111-80 over PPDD.)

Meanwhile, Boston hasn't been quite as active in 2008, with their only ranked bout being a 87-42 victory over #26 Cincinnati on May 10 -- but they did get a win to be proud of when they thumped the Bronx Gridlock, Gotham's championship home team, by a final of 116-49 in March.

The balanced Boston squad brings both intimidating speed (jammers Sarah Doom, Claire D. Way) and intimidating strength (Shelby Shattered, Triple Deck-Her) to the track. They've also been buttressed by three skilled transfers since last season -- Harley Quinn (formerly of DC) and Anna Wrecks'Ya and Baby Fighterfly from Providence. Most of Rocky Mountain's offense comes from jammer duo Frida Beater and She Who Cannot Be Named, but they play a very effective defensive game, as Providence found out the hard way. Also notably, RMRG is bench-coached on this excursion by derby masterminds Trish the Dish and Ivanna S. Pankin.

(3) Carolina vs. (25) Denver (3:00pm)

Denver continues to show no fear of the best derby has to offer -- they've already played #1 Kansas City and the Honky Tonk Heartbreakers home team from #4 Texas this year. They test themselves again in this matchup with the East's #1 team before getting it on with the East's #2 team, Gotham, on Sunday.

This bout features multiple notable changes to the Carolina roster -- Denise Lightning, who came to Carolina from Arizona and was a big part of Carolina's 2007-ending upset of #1 Kansas City, has gone back to Phoenix, but original Carolina phenom Roxy Rockett, who left early in 2007 to join Philly, has returned to Raleigh. This is also Penelope Bruz's first bout back on the all-star team after a lengthy absence for injury. For Denver, spectators will want to keep an eye on Angela Death and Sheila Tack, both exciting and resilient jammers -- but they'll need all their skills and a lot of blocking help from Boo Boo Radley, Disco-A-Go-Go, Fiona Grapple and others to navigate the notoriously effective Carolina defense.

(15) Providence vs. (22) Atlanta (4:30pm)

Providence is one of the oldest leagues in this relatively new sport, so it was particularly surprising when they suffered a 75-64 April loss to unranked Maine in Maine's very first WFTDA-ranked bout. Just one month later, they traveled to #14 Rocky Mountain, where they were presented with an even more surprising pasting, held to single digits by the home team in a 137-9 loss.

Providence would surely like nothing more than to erase the memory of those losses with a win over Atlanta -- but Atlanta's got plenty of incentive of their own to win, as ATL currently holds the crucial #12 seed in the Eastern Region and could potentially fall out of tournament contention with a loss. However, they've only got one all-star bout under their belts in the last 10 months -- a 91-58 victory over unranked Tampa Bay.

Providence has a solid group of jammers in Hysterica, Jailbird Jenny, DaSilva Bullet and Craisy Dukes, while Burnin' Helen, Shelby Bruisin' and Sass E. McNasty will be crucial elements of the Providence pack. Atlanta veterans Demi Gore, Wheelin' Jennings and captain Queen Loseyateefa will be helping their team rep for the Dirty South.

(4) Texas vs. (5) Gotham (5:00pm)

See feature preview here.

(8) Detroit vs. (20) Dominion (6:30pm)

Dominion has been making a lot of noise in the past half-year. They've got four straight WFTDA wins, with the last three being big blowouts -- a 169-44 rout of #29 Sin City, a 150-80 rout of #35 Steel City, and the capper -- the biggest blowout in WFTDA history, a 307-6 dismantling of Long Island. However, all of those wins have been against fairly lowly-ranked teams, and this bout will go a long way towards showing if they're ready to compete at the tournament level. Detroit, while also on a four-game win streak, had a tough time putting away #23 Grand Raggidy on May 31, hanging on for a 94-82 victory. As the #4th ranked team in the East region, Detroit currently holds a crucial first-round bye for the regional tourney -- an upset win for Dominion here would really scramble the tournament picture in the East.

Detroit's tireless workhorse Racer McChaser, the MVP of 2007's Eastern Regionals, gets a lot of deserved credit for Detroit's strength, but they've got a deep cast that includes two more excellent jammers in Honey Suckit and recent all-star addition Effin' Money, along with the nationally renowned bone-crunching blocking of Killbox -- who's known to don the star herself every now and again. Dominion comes into the bout with a reputation for standout speed, especially from Tsunami Tsue and Sweet N. Lowdown.

(9) Philly vs. (7) Windy City (7:00pm)

The day's action comes to a close with event hosts Philly grappling for the first time with Chicago's Windy City. Going into last year's Eastern Regionals, many expected Philly to have a much better shot at getting into the final four and qualifying for Nationals -- but Philly's first-round bye wasn't enough to get them past eventual tourney champs Gotham, and Windy City's epic upset of Madison gave Windy the Nationals berth.

Philly's been up and down since Regionals, winning a squeaker over the tough Bay Area in November, 62-56, but losing badly in an April rematch with Gotham, 145-47. They did get back on track on May 18th, shutting down Cincinnati 102-35 in an away game. Windy City has won all three of their 2008 events over unranked Arch Rival, #23 Grand Raggidy, and #17 Madison by over 40 points each.

Both all-star teams are comprised of longtime veterans who have a lot of experience playing with each other, so expect particular effective teamwork on both sides. Philly captain Teflon Donna is effective in almost all positions, but is nursing some nagging injuries that may affect her play. Windy City, on the other hand, is without imposing blocker Megan Formor.

---
Photos: Ntisocl (Princess America), Jeff Sevier (Sadistic Sadie)