After the 2010-2011 season, Ian Childs passed the captaincy on to one of his assistant captains, Sam Hiller, to lead the Spartans into the 2011-2012 season. 2011-2012 was one of the years with the most parity in league history, and the Spartans took a step back that season. They missed out on the Final Four despite bringing almost everyone back, and had a disappointing finish at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup. However, Michigan State did win the 2011 MSU Invite. They started the season off at Saginaw Valley, who they lost to 4-2, and then beat Bowling Green 3-1. Their next tournament was the MSU Invite, in which they beat Ohio State, Kent State, Depaul, and Eastern Michigan to win the tournament. Then a depleted squad went to Grand Valley and was dominated, losing 7-1. The Spartans went to the Chicago Dodgeball Open for the second straight season, and for the second straight season they had a great showing. They went 3-1, losing to GVSU again but beating Western Illinois, Moody Bible, and Nebraska. Next up for State was the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, where they lost three close matches to Central Michigan, Grand Valley, and Saginaw Valley. After that the Spartans went to Nationals, where they lost their first game 2-1 to James Madison, the first loss to a team outside of Michigan since 2009. They followed back with victories over Wisconsin-Platteville and Miami, and then in the elimination portion of the tournament they started off with a narrow victory over Western Kentucky. The next match was a thriller against SVSU, in which the Spartans trailed 3-0 at halftime and fought back and almost tied it at the buzzer, losing 3-2.
The 2011-2012 season would be the last for several key players in Michigan State history. Among them were players like two time All-Star Andy Malnor, speedster Ray Matiyow, sixth year players Dominique Carruthers and J’mel Johnson, catcher Carlos Guzman, and graduate student Jason Durocher. State did add some great players as well, such as Andy Lieblich, Josh Brawley, Riley Robson, and Kyle Totzke.
This season would be the first to feature an All-Girls game, played in by Nicole Halbeisen and Olivia Ghislain, and it also featured an All-Star game, played in by Andy Malnor, Andrew Koczara, Alex Acton, and Eric Paul. There was also an All-NCDA team, in which Eric Paul and Andy Malnor made the list, and Andrew Koczara and Andy Lieblich also received votes.
The Spartans definitely had a very weird season, with victories like 14-0 against Nebraska, 9-1 against Wisconsin-Platteville, and 8-1 versus Depaul, along with three separate dominating halves vs eventual champion SVSU. However, they also blew those three matches against SVSU by giving up three huge halves of the Cardinals’ own, they couldn’t finish points in clutch times, they lost to an out of state school for the first time in three seasons, and they finished with a near-.500 record. While the Spartans improved in many areas, they also appeared to take a step back in other ones. Michigan State did beat both of their Big Ten rivals this season, with a victory over OSU and Nebraska.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better team to join than ours. Everyone was welcoming and fun to be around, while at the same time highly competitive.” says Andy Lieblich.
