The Mad Rollin' Dolls kicked off our 11th season of roller derby in Madison this past weekend, with a double-header at the Exposition Hall at the Alliant Energy Center. Peter Rabid was there to recap the action:

Reservoir Dolls 267, Unholy Rollers 150

On Saturday evening hundreds of roller derby fans flocked to The Alliant Energy Center to witness the Mad Rollin’ Dolls’ 2015 season opener. The first bout of the evening pitted the Unholy Rollers against the defending champion Reservoir Dolls.

The Unholy’s Magic Missile got whistled for a track cut in the game’s first jam, allowing the Res Dolls to jump out to a 24-7 lead. The Res Dolls then earned lead jammer on 12 of the next 13 jams to quietly build their lead to 95-40.

With just over 11 minutes remaining in the first half, the Unholies started to dig themselves out of their hole behind power jams by Missile and recent transfer Gertrude Awakening (formerly of the Vaudeville Vixens), but the Res Dolls consistently eked out points in each of the last five jams of the period, ending the half with a 43-point lead, 126-83.

The Reservoir Dolls started the second half playing the small game, scoring just a few points on jams while playing tough defense against opposing jammers. Mouse started to extend the lead for her team, scoring 15 of her game-high 80 points on a power jam ten minutes into the half. Then the blockers for the Skate Crime Syndicate went to work, holding the Unholy Rollers scoreless for eight of the last 13 jams of the game.

Blanche Devereauxxx was able to break the Unholies out of a scoreless funk twice during that stretch on her way to a team-high 54 points. Despite her valiant effort the Unholy Rollers fell short, 267- 150.