Michigan State Spartans Pre-Nationals Spotlight

Leading into Nationals, we look to spotlight as many teams as we can in hopes of shining a bright light on standouts from participating teams. These glow-ups include up to 2 of each team’s standout rookies as well as a handful of core contributing players that have gotten their respective team to where they are going into the National Collegiate Dodgeball Association’s annual finale. Lastly, we get a glance into each participating team’s mindset and expectations going into Nationals.

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Comparing Resumes of the NCDA’s Top 5

The following article was prepared by Kevin Bailey, Wes Peters, and Kathryn Mays.

With the March 2022 Power Rankings just released, the top 5 teams in the NCDA deserve a deeper dive. It seems at this point in the season, the top 5 teams in the league have separated themselves a bit from the rest of the pack. 

With Cincinnati winning the Ohio Dodgeball Cup, Michigan State winning the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, James Madison putting the hammer down on the rest of the East Coast, Grand Valley State boasting a 13-2 overall record, and Ohio State chugging along as a title contender and up to #3 in the Gonzalez standings, these 5 teams all have had stellar campaigns thus far.

Let’s take a closer look at each team’s resume to get a better understanding of where each squad stands heading into the final month of the collegiate dodgeball season! We will cover these teams in the order in which they were ranked in the March 2022 PR:

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Baller of the Month January 2022: Tony Stumpo

As has traditionally been the case with the NCDA’s Baller of the Month Award, January is awarded to an alumni player that is making an impact in the sport.

This year, we recognize former Michigan State player and current member of Grand Rapids Kraken: Tony Stumpo. Stumpo has continued to play the sport outside of the NCDA, and has given back greatly to the league as a notable commentator. In 2022 alone, Stumpo has been on the livestream commentating games at the Grand Valley Gauntlet (January) and Michigan Dodgeball Cup (February).

Check out the full interview above with our January Alumni Baller of the Month!

2022 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

2015 Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview – NCDA

This Saturday, Michigan State University will host three other schools in the annual Michigan Dodgeball Cup. In attendance will be Grand Valley State (8-1), Michigan State (5-3), Saginaw Valley State (2-7), and Western Michigan (0-3). Missing from the MDC for the first time since 2007 (prior to their club’s existence) is Central Michigan University.

While eyes will be on the CMU club to see if they can rebuild their program and get back to competition, let’s shift our attention back to the four teams in attendance. To start, here is the schedule for the 2022 MDC, which will be livestreamed on the NCDA’s social channels this Saturday, starting at 10:00 AM.

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Grand Valley Gauntlet VIII

This Saturday we kick off the second half of our 2021-2022 season in Allendale, Michigan, with the Grand Valley Gauntlet VIII. The teams in attendance are: the Grand Valley State University (GVSU), Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), and Michigan State University (MSU). It is exciting to get back on the courts again and I can’t wait to see the results. Let’s take a look at the schedule for tomorrow’s event below.

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Cincinnati Super Smackdown Tournament Review

This year, the league is witnessing arguably some of the most balanced skill sets within the top 8 teams that it has ever seen. In a neck and neck dogfight for the top spot in the rankings, there has been quite some uncertainty on where to predict the final standings for each team. With 4 of these top 8 teams competing in this tournament, we were hoping to clear some of that uncertainty, but all we got was more of it.

Each Ohio team, coming off of their own respective dominant performances, was surely excited to play a hot MSU, who just celebrated a huge technical upset over GVSU. Mixed into these matchups are both UK and WMU, both competing in their season inducting tournament. As the league eagerly looked for the results of this tournament to shine some clarity on the true hierarchy of the league, the results this day struck an existential blow to the concept of clarity: Akron defeated MSU, MSU defeated OSU, OSU defeated UC, and UC defeated Akron and MSU. What do we take away from this? Are any of these teams the technical winner? The transitive property rests in an infinite loop, so we asked each team to give us their thoughts on each matchup to help us debug these results.

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Cardinal Invitational Recap

Way back on November 20th, the Cardinal Invitational took place. With everyone very busy with the holiday weekend and preparing for finals, it took a little while to compile each team’s lasting thoughts for the tournament. We take a look at what leaders from (almost) every team had to say.

Saginaw Valley State Perspective:

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2020 All-Michigan Team


Listed below is the 2020 All-Region Team for Michigan. This list was voted on by captains within the Michigan Region.

1. Ben Smart – Grand Valley State

Landing at #1 on the All-Michigan list in Grand Valley State star Ben Smart. Known for his great instincts, clutch catching, and devastatingly accurate throws, Ben Smart is the definition of an all-around player. At times this year it seemed like he could eliminate opponents at will. The lefty for the Lakers has such phenomenal movement and placement on his throw, and great timing in transition, that he can pick off opponents at a very efficient rate. Smart helped the Lakers to an undefeated record prior to the season being suspended, and while he would’ve loved to finish out the year with a National Title, he will be back next fall to help lead GVSU in their pursuit of a championship.

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Grand Valley Gauntlet- Recap

Last weekend at the Grand Valley Gauntlet, three teams went head-to-head: GVSU, MSU, and UWP. They made for some good games and gave us a look at what to expect for the rest of the season. The following were the scores and thoughts from the day:

GVSU def UWP 10-0
GVSU def MSU 3-1
UWP def GVSU B 7-0
MSU def UWP 7-0
Alumni def GVSU 3-2 (OT)

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Grand Valley Gauntlet Preview

This Saturday, Grand Valley State University will host the Gauntlet tournament at the GVSU Fieldhouse. In attendance will be Michigan State and Wisconsin Platteville, along with the hometown Lakers. Below is the schedule for the day (with GVSU B and GVSU Alumni also getting in on the action):

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All-Michigan 2019

Next on our release of top regional performers is the the All-Michigan team for the 2018-19 season. This year’s eligible teams under consideration were Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, Central Michigan, Michigan State, and first year member Western Michigan. This list consists of the top performers within the Michigan region, as selected by their peers.

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Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview

The 2019 Michigan Dodgeball Cup is right around the corner, taking place this Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan on the campus of Michigan State University.  As has been the case for over a decade, the MDC will play host to each school in the state of Michigan for a regular season tournament that will have national title implications.  Below is a preview of this Saturday’s tournament: Continue reading “Michigan Dodgeball Cup Preview”