Evangeline Colarossi — Staff Writer

Three Dordt teams opposed Northwestern College on Wednesday, January 23 in men and women’s basketball—and a college dance team duel.. Unfortunately, all three Dordt teams were defeated.

Contributed Photo

Halftime of the men’s basketball game saw the Dordt dance team’s first duel of the competition season. Northwestern’s team performed first, followed by Dordt. Northwestern won by 2.25 points, with a score of 69.25-67.00.

“The first competition of the season is always nerve-wracking,” said sophomore Ashley Zwart, team captain, “but it’s always good to get it out of the way and get our heads in the game for the rest of the competition season. It’s always hard to lose, but I think it got our team fired up and ready to make improvements for the rest of the season.”

In the following four weeks, the dance team will face five competitions. These include the GPAC competition in Hastings and the NAIA Nationals Qualifier at Midland. If Dordt qualifies for Nationals, they will attend the NAIA Nationals competition March 7-9 in Davenport, IA.

The NAIA scoring system for competitive dance ranks teams by their point averages for all of their competitions. Dordt is currently ranked 14th in the nation after their first competition. The top 12 ranking teams will qualify for nationals.

Dordt’s next competition is hosted by Concordia College this Saturday, February 2. There are team 14 members this season, and eight will be performing at the Concordia Invite. The team has been practicing and revamping their routine to enhance their strengths and build up their endurance.

“Although this dual didn’t have the outcome we were initially hoping for,” said Zwart. “We learned a lot about our team and the things we need to start working on to make sure we are successful the rest of the season.”need to start working on to make sure we are successful the rest of the season.”