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.

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.”