For the second year in a row, Hope Hall walked away from Nationball as champions, after facing off with Horton Hall in the final round.

Stoked and ecstatic

Several Hope residents planned to celebrate their conquest by going to Disneyland. Despite losing an overwhelming number of players, Horton residents remained positive to the very last second. Trevor Pence, junior accounting major from Horton, exclaimed his excitement as the referees tallied the results.

“I’m so stoked right now, Horton is going to kill it!” Pence said.

Seconds later, however, the defending champion, Hope Hall, was announced as the victor.

“I’m feeling pretty ecstatic. I think we really showed up this year and carried on the legacy,” said Noah Strenn, sophomore business major from Hope, as they were announced the winners.

Student Programming and Activities decided to make a slight change to the rules this year. While in previous iterations of Nationball the number of remaining players on each team determined the outcome of the round, the victors were decided by the number of eliminations scored.

“Last year they kinda just estimated who won and who was left on the court, but some of the dorms are bigger and some are smaller, so we’re counting outs because it’s a more accurate way to know if somebody won or not,” said McKenna Dorman, intramural coordinator and sophomore math major.

After working hard to make the event run smoothly, SPA members were excited to watch their efforts come to fruition.

“I’m really pumped about the aspect of minimizing the cheating and including everybody… it’s going to be really awesome organized chaos, which we’re excited about,” said Sam Hammer, emcee and senior biological science major.

Possible interference and a sick dance battle

In several instances, teams interfered with rounds in which they were not participating. The Sigma men formed their customary defensive shield in front of Alpha during the latter dorm’s match against Blackstone in the first game of the night. Alpha triumphed over their opposition. In an unusual twist, some of the Blackstone men later joined Sigma in defending Alpha in its struggle against Hope.

“We just thought it would be a fair advantage since we saw our brethren Sigma help out our sisters Alpha, and we just thought it was the right thing to do to help our sisters out and our brothers out against the larger opponent Hope and give them what they all need,” said Corry Williams, sophomore Cinema & Media Arts major and Blackstone resident.

The coordinators hosted multiple breaktime events between rounds, including the return of the dance competition between representatives of each team. The judges gradually eliminated the competitors according to vote by audience applause until only junior communication sciences major and Off Campus Community member Kiyana Sagarang remained.

“I just had a sick dance battle against all the dorms, it was rad, it was awesome, it was great,” Sagarang said.

At the end of the night, Hope left the gym with the championship in their hands and glee in their hearts. It was a satisfying final Nationball for senior English major Raquel Hargrove.

“I am so excited,” Hargrove said. “This is my last year. I couldn’t be prouder. Two years in a row. I feel really honored to be a part of this beautiful dorm.”