Ohio Valley Small College & DI Conference Championships All Set

The Ohio Valley Women’s Collegiate Rugby Conference (OVWCRC) held its first round of small college and DI 7s tournaments last Saturday. The tournaments seeded teams for this Saturday’s conference championships, which occur at separate locations and afford berths to separate national events. 

Ten teams competed in the OVWCRC small college tournament at Ohio Wesleyan last Saturday. Baldwin Wallace (lead photo) and the host both went 4-0 in their respective pools, and standings points afforded the Yellow Jackets the top seed overall. Baldwin Wallace played its closest game against Grace College (19-5 win), while Tiffin pushed Ohio Wesleyan to a 14-7 decision. Combined, the top-two teams allowed just three tries against in eight games. See the full scores below.

The small college conference championship occurs this Saturday, April 9 at Denison University, and the top-six teams will compete for Champion Cup: 1. Baldwin Wallace, 2. Ohio Wesleyan, 3. Tiffin, 4. Wooster, 5. Denison, 6. Grace. The victor will receive an automatic berth to the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) Small College 7s National Championship on April 30-May 1 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Thus far, St. Bonaventure (Upstate New York), Univ. Rochester (Upstate New York) and Univ. South Dakota (Prairie States) have qualified for the annual 7s event. [Read more college 7s updates]

Taylor and Kenyon (which did not compete in Week 1 but replace Oberlin and Wooster B) will join Findlay and Earlham in the Challenge Cup.

OVWCRC Small College 7s – Week 1
Baldwin Wallace 43-0 Findlay
Baldwin Wallace 19-5 Grace
Baldwin Wallace 32-7 Wooster A
Baldwin Wallace 20-0 Oberlin
Wooster A 27-10 Grace
Wooster A 40-0 Oberlin
Wooster A 27-7 Findlay
Grace 29-0 Findlay
Grace 15-10 Oberlin
Findlay 22-14 Oberlin

Ohio Wesleyan 31-0 Earlham
Ohio Wesleyan 47-0 Denison
Ohio Wesleyan 14-0 Wooster B
Ohio Wesleyan 14-7 Tiffin
Tiffin 17-0 Wooster B
Tiffin 45-5 Earlham
Tiffin 33-10 Denison
Denison 32-17 Wooster B
Denison 25-10 Earlham
Wooster B 12-10 Earlham

Five teams competed in the OVWCRC DI 7s tournament, held at Miami University of Ohio. Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) went 4-0 and limited Cincinnati, Ball State, Miami and Purdue to two tries or less in each match. The group will reassemble this weekend at Cincinnati’s Brimelow fields to determine the champion, which will then report to the CRC May Madness 7s in New Orleans (May 28-30).

OVWCRC DI 7s – Week 1 
IUPUI 20-10 Cincinnati
IUPUI 25-10 Ball State
IUPUI 31-5 Miami
IUPUI 10-0 Purdue
Cincinnati 10-5 Purdue
Cincinnati 28-0 Ball State
Cincinatti 31-7 Miami
Purdue 24-0 Miami
Purdue 57-0 Ball State
Miami 26-0 Ball State

Week 1 Standings
1. IUPUI (4-0) 20 pts
2. Cincinnati (3-1) 14 pts
3. Purdue (2-2) 11 pts
4. Miami (1-3) 5 pts
5. Ball State (0-4) 0 pts