After making huge gains the previous season, Michigan State would go on to continue their success in 2010-2011 by winning their first tournament and by making it to the Final Four again. Led by head captain Ian Childs, and assistant captains Cameron Massimino and Sam Hiller, the Spartans would prove to be a dominant team. They started the season off at the MSU Invite with a 12-0 blowout of Depaul, a 4-2 victory over Bowling Green, and conquered Western Illinois 7-0 in the final of the tournament. A month later they played a round robin with Saginaw Valley and Central Michigan, where they dropped both matches (4-0 and 4-2), and the following day they went to Eastern Michigan where they won 4-1 with a mixed Varsity and Junior Varsity team. After the Winter Break, the Spartans went to the Chicago Dodgeball Open where they would go 3-1, beating first year school Moody Bible Institute 8-0, Western Illinois 5-1, and Depaul 6-1, while losing 2-1 to CMU. In February the Spartans had a great Michigan Dodgeball Cup showing, where they beat Lansing Community College 6-0, beat SVSU 3-1, lost 5-1 to GVSU, and lost 3-2 in overtime to CMU. Heading into Nationals 2010 at Western Kentucky, as the number two seed, the Spartans would play Moody Bible, Louisville, and WIU in the pool play portion on Saturday. MSU went 3-0 on the first day, with wins of 6-0, 8-0, and 2-1 respectively. The second day they’d go on and face Northwestern State and win 3-0 in the first round, beat WIU for the fourth time in the season 3-1, and would eventually lose a heart breaker 2-1 to runner up GVSU in the Final Four, a match in which Andy Malnor would essentially carry the Spartans as far as he could. Michigan State ended the season 14-6, and made it to the Final Four for the second straight season.

This season also had the first annual All-Star Game, featuring Team Michigan vs Team The World, in a two 10 minute half game. Team Michigan was represented well by the Spartans, who had 6 All-Stars: Andy Malnor, Alex Acton, Eric Paul, Ian Childs, Kevin Miller, and Sam Hiller. They helped lead Team Michigan to a 1-0 victory in the All Star Game.

Some of the rookies from this year’s class included Mike Van Ermen, Ryan Sweet, and Chris Kramer. It was also the last year for Sweet, Erik Butterfield, Kyle Schubel, and Assistant Captain Cameron Massimino.

This was the first season that MSU Club Sports had a deal with Nike, so after using Patagonia for the previous two seasons, the team switched to a classic all-green look with Nike shirts and shorts.

With this possibly being the most talented Spartan team ever, they did fairly well in losing a close match to GVSU in the National Semifinal. That match was undoubtedly the closest they’d come to beating GVSU, and State almost beat CMU, who eventually won the National Championship. Their victory over SVSU is also considered by many of the Spartans as their best win yet. Captain Ian Childs had a great final year as captain, as the Spartans had their best season yet. Michigan State had the most games played of any team, finished second in the points behind CMU, and during the whole season only lost to in-state rivals.

“One of my favorite moments was at Nationals at WKU when there was like a 10 minute duel between a GVSU player and Andy Malnor. When he caught that low throw, our team rushed the court, you would have thought we won the championship. We still lost, but it was the closest we have ever gotten to beating GVSU. GVSU went on to lose to Central Michigan in the Finals which may have been due to us tiring them out in a tough match.” says Kevin Miller.

Will Hack stated about the 2010-2011 season “2010-2011 was a landmark year for the MSU Dodgeball Team. It was the last in a string of years where MSU defied tradition by starting a woman on varsity (with Brittany Clifton). It saw the best underhanded thrower in the league take it a step too far, when Dom kicked the ball at the head of a GVSU player…he later discovered that was not allowed. And it ended with Andy Malnor’s heroics pulling out a point against the Lakers as one of the most well-rounded teams in MSU bowed out in the Final Four. In a tournament with what I believe to be the highest level of dodgeball ever played, Michigan State held its own against the best.”