2009 WFTDA Eastern Regionals Preview

By Justice Feelgood Marshall, Last updated Wed Sep 9 2009 12:38pm

RALEIGH, NC -- The 2009 WFTDA regional tournament season kicks off this weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina with the Eastern Regional tournament hosted by the Carolina Rollergirls on the concrete of Dorton Arena. After years of a binary East / West structure, WFTDA has split into four regions, meaning it'll take four tournaments to determine who goes to November's Nationals this year. 10 teams from each region will go to the tourneys this year, as opposed to the 12 from last year. In another change from previous years, only the top three will advance to Nationals -- in 2007 and 2008, the final four from each region went. This has the effect of making the third place bout much more meaningful, as only the winner will get a trip to the final showdown in Philly.

In this ten-team structure, the 7 through 10 seeds will have to play an extra bout at the beginning. The winners of those bouts proceed to the eight-team quarterfinals. Only the teams that win in the quarterfinals and advance to the final four remain alive for a possible Nationals slot -- the teams that advance to their regional championship bout are guaranteed to go, while the teams that lose in the final four get one more chance in the third-place game. While there are consolation games for all teams to determine a comprehensive 1-10 by the end of the tournament, any team that loses its first bout is definitely out of Nationals, and the 7-10 seeds must win their first two games to stay in the hunt.

For a visual bracket with start times and consolation games, see the official Wicked Wheels of the East website. All start times in this preview are Eastern.

Inside, a comprehensive look at the matchups, rosters and histories in the mix as WFTDA starts its most ambitious tournament cycle yet.