Next for MSU is the Chicago Dodgeball Open, hosted at the Ray Meyer Fitness Center on Depaul’s campus. The Spartans will get games with Moody Bible Institute, Nebraska, (possibly) James Madison, and Grand Valley.

Continue reading →

In the final game of Andrew Koczara’s (#24) and Chris Kramer’s (#21) illustrious careers, Michigan State had a roller coaster thrill ride of a battle with GVSU, one in which they would lose 3-2 in overtime. After dropping the first point to Grand Valley in about 10 minutes, MSU would fight back with strong play, especially catches, team throws, and counters, and take the next point going into the half. To start the second half, MSU jumped out of the game quickly and took another point, this time with around 12 people still on the court, and gave the Spartans just their second ever lead over GVSU. However, as it neared crunch time, it was clear that the Lakers weren’t going down without a fight, as they came out with stellar team play and over-matched Michigan State to take the fourth point, making it 2-2. Neither side played very riskily for the fifth point, and the game headed for overtime.

Michigan State chose Koczara and Kramer, along with Alex Acton (#72), Eric Paul (#9), Mike Van Ermen (#6), and Andy Lieblich (#20) for the overtime duel, as Grand Valley countered with Mark Trippiedi (#8), Dylan Fettig (#24), Kevin Bailey (#4), Kenny Bacchus (#32), Josh Stevenson (#13), and Ryan Knight (#11). State took out Knight extremely quick, then got a great catch from Acton on Trippiedi to make it a 6-4 advantage for the Spartans. However, GVSU would even the odds by taking out Acton, Lieblich, and Van Ermen while only losing Josh Stevenson to make it even at three players a piece. The Spartans took down Fettig to take a 3-2 advantage, leaving Bacchus and Bailey on the court for GVSU against Koczara, Kramer, and Paul for MSU. GVSU dropped Koczara next, bringing it to a two vs two fight to the finish. After a missed team throw opportunity against Bacchus on a balls over, Eric Paul smartly fired on at a dodging Bacchus, getting the kill. After a couple of balls over going both ways, MSU had ten balls to GVSU’s none, but a diving catch by Bailey on Kramer brought Knight back in, putting State on the defensive. Then Knight threw at Paul, but Paul made the catch, bringing back in Acton, but before Acton could throw with Paul, Bailey threw out Paul. This led to a one on one scenario of two All-Stars.They both threw, they both hit, but the ball that hit Acton hit the ground before the ball that hit Bailey’s did, meaning another Laker victory in the rivalry.

This was undoubtedly the best game in the history of this one sided rivalry, and will go up there with the win over Delta College in the 2009 MDC, the win over SVSU in the 2010 MDC, and the losses to CMU and GVSU in the 2010 and 2011 Nationals as the best performances by a Michigan State squad ever.

After starting the season 7-1, including beating rivals SVSU and CMU, the Spartans look to accomplish a feat they’ve never done- beat Grand Valley. With the match being on December 2nd in the Laker Fieldhouse Arena, the atmosphere should be great. The Lakers are coming off a 2-1 loss to rival SVSU, but are 3-1 on the season. Michigan State meanwhile is on a seven game winning streak after dropping their first match to Kentucky. However, the Spartans have never defeated the Lakers, so GVSU is the clear favorite in this one. For MSU to pull off the upset they’ll have to play as a team, and have to play to everyone’s abilities. State will also need two players, Chris Kramer and Andrew Koczara, who are playing in their last game to play great.

The Lakers are led by Mark Trippiedi, who has a 70+ mph throw, who along with Dylan Fettig make one of the best one-two punches in all of dodgeball. While this current team isn’t as strong as the 2008-2009 team that didn’t drop a point all season, they are still clearly a top five time in the NCDA. It will undoubtedly be Michigan State’s toughest match of the semester, so this could be a barometer of sorts to see if MSU is a MDC favorite or still the underdog. While the two teams get along fairly well off the court, expect to see some fireworks on the court, as this is a fierce rivalry.

Last season MSU lost both matches they played against GVSU, the first was a 7-1 loss at GVSU in which the Spartans played with a depleted roster, and the second was a 5-0 match that was closer than the score indicated.

There will also be a junior varsity match after the game, which will give some valuable experience to some of the younger members of the club.