Bout Previews: (17) Sin City @ (8) Detroit, (17) Sin City @ (24) Grand Raggidy

(updated to reflect new WFTDA rankings)

The hostesses of Rollercon take a jaunt out East this weekend, making the most of it by playing bouts on consecutive days against Michigan’s two WFTDA leagues, Detroit and Grand Raggidy. All three leagues will be looking to turn around some recent losing streaks. On Friday, 17th-ranked Sin City takes on 8th-ranked Detroit, and on Saturday they travel three hours down the road to battle 24th-ranked Grand Raggidy.

Detroit, of course, has had the highest profile lately, with their surprising victory over Minnesota at Heartland Havoc and subsequent trip to the national tournament shooting them 11 slots up the WFTDA rankings. However, since that win over Minnesota, they’ve had a tough time of it, with +100 point losses to Gotham and Rat City and a much closer 10 point loss to Carolina. Given the level of competition they’ve gone up against recently (they’ve played the #2, #4 and #5 teams in the nation in the last seven weeks!) they’ve no doubt learned a lot of new tricks that they’d be more than happy to try out on the Sin City girls. Detroit’s roster for this bout looks nearly identical to their Havoc/Shootout roster, with apparently only Lady MacDeath making a travel team debut — so this is a team with a lot of recent experience.

Sin City’s been suffering a bit of a cold streak recently, and it’s reflected in their two-slot drop in the rankings. Their most recent match was in late July, when friendly rival Duke City (ranked 16th) finally got the better of them in a close match, 104-84. A month previous, though, Sin City was battered 117-36 by the Windy City Rollers at home, and also lost 107-80 to Rose City in April. The Neanderdolls’ only win since Dust Devil stands as a 124-80 May victory over the considerably younger Brew City Bruisers, and team leaders Ivanna S. Pankin and Trish the Dish are doubtless keenly interested in adding more wins to their 2007 record.

Once they’re done with Detroit, it’ll be time for Grand Raggidy, who has seen the least action of the three leagues in 2007. Grand Raggidy was unfortunate enough to pull Gotham on the opening day of Heartland Havoc, and was (wo)manhandled in a tough 206-49 defeat — before that, they’d barely escaped with a June victory over a dangerous new WFTDA member in Fort Wayne, 84-82. Regional rivals Detroit defeated them in a close 105-89 bout in May, and Grand Raggidy went 1-1 at March’s East Coast Extravaganza, losing to Charm City 95-75 and taking down Ohio 167-104. GRRG will have their work cut out for them against the more experienced Sin City, but perhaps a combination of the home-field advantage, a chance to scout out Sin City the night beforehand in Detroit, and the lessons learned from Gotham will allow the Grand Rapids girls to score what would be a considerable upset.

(Thanks to Detroit’s Bella Go-Go See & Grand Raggidy’s Dot Matrix for these rosters.)

UPDATE 1: Detroit earns their top-ten ranking, knocking off Sin City 129 to 75. Dot Matrix reports that Sin City captain Ivanna S. Pankin was hurt in the second period and did not play the third, making her questionable for tonight’s bout with Grand Raggidy.

UPDATE 2: Grand Raggidy makes it a Michigan sweep, beating Sin City 115-52.

702 Alma Bichess // 33 Burce Killis // 90 GoGo Destructo // 22 Ivanna S. Pankin // 71 Pearly Gates // C2 Roxi Contin // CU Seemore Butts // 138 Shawna Th’Dead // 9 Sigourney Beaver // 99 Trish the Dish // 95mg AThena Barbital //55 Victory Lane // 11 Skid

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L1 Bikini Killer // 313 Black Eyed Skeez // 33 1/3 Cookie Rumble // 76 Del Bomber // 6 Elle McFearsome // 1974 Honey Suckit // 989 Killbox // 2.8 Racer McChaseher // 10cent Rock Candy // 12 Rude Awakening // 200 Sass Knuckles // 181 Vega Vendetta // 31 Whiskey Soured // Lady MacDeath

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17 Dot Matrix // 07 Jackie Daniels // 00 Bette Mangler // 01 Lindsey Blowhan // 12 Lil Ha Ha // 16 Barb Rawler // 22 Mira MaHeiny // 23 Make Ya Dizzy Lizzy // 24 The Vindicator // f.28 Shutterspeed // 33 Javelin // 34 Angie Warhaul // 56 Terrorhawk // 63 Battleaxe