Nationals 2012 Preview

Posted on April 10, 2012 by hiller87

The dodgeball world will all come to Saginaw, MI, on April 14th and 15th, as Nationals 2012 will decide the new NCDA National Champion. There are 16 schools going, including #1 ranked Kent State, last season’s champions Central Michigan, and host school Saginaw Valley. With four pools set up on Saturday, the Sunday single-elimination bracket will be based on 80% of the points accumulated on Saturday and 20% of the points accumulated during the regular season. There will also be an All-Star Game, and an All-Girls game.

Pool A “Cyan Group” features the dodgeball powerhouse Grand Valley State, along with two dodgeball mainstays in Depaul and Bowling Green and relative newcomer Northwestern State. Northwestern State has not played a match since Nationals 2011, where they went 0-4. Depaul, known as the jesters of the NCDA, is 3-7 this season, beating Eastern Michigan, Western Illinois, and Nebraska. Always in it for the fun of the game, Depaul will enjoy their pool. Bowling Green has had an up and down season, going 4-8. They started off the season 0-5, but finished out 4-3, including wins over Kentucky and Ohio State. They could be a sleeper team to make a run on Sunday. Grand Valley State finished the season ranked #2 in the country, but they have to make up for a disappointing finish at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, where they lost to both CMU and SVSU. They’re one of the most deadly teams in the league, and anything less than a title will be considered a disappointment.

Pool B “Magenta Group” includes host school SVSU, Kentucky, Ohio State, and Western Illinois. This may be the the most competitive group, as all four teams were in the quarterfinals of the 2011 National Tournament. Ohio State and SVSU have had some disagreements in the past, so that match is one to watch. The Buckeyes are known as a great catching team, and they could pull off an upset over a higher ranked team. Western Illinois had a down year, but they’re still a good team that can hang with anyone. Kentucky finished the season in the top 4, and feature the hardest thrower in the league. However, the Cardinals should be the favorite for this pool, as their tremendous talent and home court advantage will combine to make them a hard out in the tournament.

Pool C “Yellow Group” has a mix of classic teams and a new blood- James Madison. The Dukes made a lot of noise their first season going 7-3-1 and finishing in sixth place. Among the classic teams are Wisconsin-Platteville, Miami, and Michigan State. UWP played only two games, but they are usually a solid team at Nationals. Miami played 9 games this season, and two of those were forfeit wins, but they have a good foundation and won two games at Nationals last season. The Spartans are among the dodgeball elite, but they had a lackluster appearance their last time out at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup.

Pool D “Key Group” has this year’s #1 team in Kent State, and last year’s National Champion in Central Michigan, to go along with Moody Bible and Western Kentucky. All four of these schools have the capability to go deep into the tournament, and this could be the toughest pool to predict. Kent State set a record for most games played, but they lost their games to the three Michigan teams they played. Central Michigan played only five games all season, coming out 3-2, but they may have the most talent in the league. Western Kentucky didn’t play an out of state team all season, finishing 2-2, but they’ve shown in the past that they’re a powerhouse. And Moody Bible is always a tough team to play with their talent and smart play.

This year’s Nationals could be the deepest one yet, and every team is capable of making a run in the tournament. Whoever comes out on top will certainly have earned their way to the title, and its looking like it could be a great tournament.

Baller Of The Week: Andy Lieblich

Posted on April 8, 2012 by hiller87

Andy is in his first year with the Michigan State Club Dodgeball Team, and he’s turning into one of the better first year players. Nicknamed “Eggs” by his teammates, Andy is a great catcher and has a nasty grip throw.

Q: How did you get the nickname of “Eggs”?

Andy: For Halloween John Luszenski, aka Bacon, and I decided to dress up like like bacon and eggs for practice and ever since then I’ve been referred to as Eggs.

Q: What do you expect from your first Nationals tournament?

Andy: For my first year, I’m not all too sure what to expect at Nationals. But I definitely expect us to do a lot better than how we did at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup. And with some confidence, and a little bit of luck, i can see us making a run on Sunday.

Q: How have you enjoyed your first season with the MSU Club Dodgeball Team?

Andy: I can’t believe how much I’ve enjoyed playing dodgeball this season. Who would have known that a game of dodgeball could be so intense. I’ve made a lot of new friends and can’t wait to play again next year!

Spartans Ready for Nationals 2012

Posted on April 7, 2012 by hiller87

With Nationals only a week away, Michigan State is ready to win a title. With the schedule released, the roster finalized, and the strategy set, the Spartans are prepared to make this their best finish yet. The roster is filled with dodgeball veterans, with only three players making their first National Tournament appearance, and even they have played in multiple tournaments this season. The other seventeen players have plenty of experience, and this will be key if the Spartans go the whole way and play seven games in two days. With so much wear and tear on their arms, for the Spartans to be so deep will be very important if they hope to win the title. Sophomore Mike Van Ermen says “As someone who gets a pretty sore arm after a day on the court, we need to have our throwers who are susceptible to ‘dead arm’ to play smart on the first day. We shouldn’t be trying to break people’s blocks or taking risky shots. Instead, we need to pick our targets without blocks and team throw, possibly without gripping to avoid losing energy. We’re going to need all the arms we have if we want to go far in the tournament.”

Facing James Madison at 10:45 am, Michigan State will have to adapt to the Dukes’ game play. Having never played them before, MSU must impose their own style on JMU and force them to play Spartan Dodgeball. At 3:45 pm Michigan State goes against Wisconsin-Platteville. Having lost both matches of the season (against Western Illinois and Moody Bible) the Spartans must get out to an early lead and squash any hopes of an upset. Finally Michigan State squares off against Miami (OH) at 5:00 pm, and will have to similarly get out fast against them as well. The Saturday pool play for Michigan State is very winnable, and they should come out as a top four seed on Sunday. Van Ermen says “I feel our draw’s pretty favorable. In our teams history, we haven’t had too many problems with the teams we’re matched up with. However, we can’t just walk in assuming we’re going to win. We still need to play our game, and we still need to play smart. If we do that, we’ll walk into Sunday with a pretty favorable road to the Final Four.”

Spartans Draw Dukes, Pioneers, And Redhawks At Nationals 2012

Posted on April 5, 2012 by hiller87

Michigan State enters the 2012 NCDA National Tournament drawing James Madison, Wisconsin-Platteville, and Miami (OH). JMU is going to their first National Tournament, but Wisconsin-Platteville and Miami are old foes for the Spartans.

Not much is known about James Madison, as they are a new team to the NCDA. The Dukes finished the season in sixth place, starting off the season blowing out some of the other East Coast schools, but more recently they’ve been in dogfights, playing schools like Kent State, Ohio State, and Bowling Green.

Wisconsin-Platteville has played Michigan State in the past, but has never beaten them. The Pioneers are winless this season, losing their matches to Western Illinois and Moody Bible. UW-P finished the season in last place, but they’ve proven to be a tough out for the Spartans in the past.

Miami (OH) is coming into the tournament at 3-6, but out of their three wins, two of them were forfeits by Louisville. The other win was a 7-0 win though against Towson. However, their losses have had a score differential of -19, which is the lowest of any team attending Nationals.

For a full schedule, check out the NCDA Records spreadsheet on Google.

Michigan State Holds Election For 2012-2013 Season

Posted on April 4, 2012 by hiller87

Michigan State did their annual election for the E-Board for the club dodgeball team on Tuesday night, selecting a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, captain, and assistant captains. The new president for the upcoming season will be Mike Van Ermen, who is going into his third season with the club, and the new vice president will be Alex Acton, entering his fourth season. Retaining their positions from last year include Eric Paul as treasurer, Nicole Halbeisen as secretary, and Sam Hiller as head captain. The new assistant captains are Kevin Miller and Zach Bauer, two players entering their fourth year with the club. The Spartans look to be in very capable hands going into next season.

Baller Of The Week: Kevin Miller

Posted on April 3, 2012 by hiller87

The current President of the club, Kevin Miller is in his third year with the club. He was named an All-Star last season in the first ever All-Star game, and is a great catcher and has a multitude of different throws in his arsenal. Kevin had a great week of practice and is turning into one of the leaders of the program.

Q: What has been the best part of being on the dodgeball club here at Michigan State?

Kevin: The best part of playing club dodgeball at MSU is just having fun with my friends every Tuesday and Thursday night. It’s a great stress reliever and a fun way to stay in shape.

Q: What is your favorite team to play in the NCDA?

Kevin: My favorite team to play in the NCDA has to be Depaul. They are always up to something crazy whether it be their chants or unique style of play. You never know what you’re going to get when you play Depaul.

Q: How do you think you can improve your game going into your Senior season?

Kevin: I feel that I could always improve my accuracy, but I also think that I could do a better job of catching team throws. If I could regularly catch one ball while dodging others at the same time, that becomes an extremely valuable skill at the end of games.

Michigan State Ends Regular Season Ranked Fifth

Posted on April 1, 2012 by hiller87

For the second straight season Michigan State University has finished in the top five of the National College Dodgeball Association rankings. The Spartans finished the season 8-7, good for 16 points. They finished behind only Kent State, Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, and Kentucky. The rankings will help Michigan State get a high seed on Sunday of Nationals, as 20% of the Sunday ranking is based on your regular season points.

The Spartans started the season off with a loss to Saginaw Valley State, then went a a 8-2 run, with their only losses being to Grand Valley State. They then lost three matches at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup in February, and then had to forfeit their final match before Nationals to GVSU. The Spartans went their third straight season without losing to an out of state opponent during the regular season.

Last season Michigan State ended the regular season ranked second in the country behind only Central Michigan, who went on to win the National Championship. MSU played 14 games last season, but this season they played 15, good for second in the country for most games played. This means in the last two seasons the Spartans have played 29 games, which is tied for the most in the country with Kent State.

For a full look at the results and rankings for the NCDA, check out the records spreadsheet on Google.

MSU Women To Play In All-Girls Game At Nationals 2012

Posted on March 31, 2012 by hiller87

Olivia Ghislain, Nicole Halbeisen, Erin Treanore, and Cote Witt are all playing in the first ever Nationals All-Girls game at Saginaw Valley. The four Spartan women will be mixed together with the other schools bringing girls, and play a girls-only match. The other schools bringing girls include Kent State, Depaul, Northwestern State, and James Madison, among others. This match will be played on the Saturday of Nationals, along with the second annual All-Star Game, which the Spartans will also be playing in.

Michigan State Awaiting Nationals 2012 Foes

Posted on March 31, 2012 by hiller87

As the Spartans move closer to setting their roster for the 2012 NCDA National Tournament at Saginaw Valley State University, they also move closer to finding out their opponents for day one of the tournament. Day one of the tournament is a three match group play round robin, and MSU is anticipating they’ll avoid the other Michigan superpower teams. Right now, Zigmas Maloni of Depaul has Michigan State playing James Madison, Moody Bible Institute, and Western Kentucky, with all three schools being ranked in the top twelve of the NCDA rankings. The Spartans have played Moody three times in the two year history of the program, with the Spartans coming out on top all three times. Michigan State has not played the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky since Nationals 2010 at Bowling Green State University, and they have never played James Madison.

MSU is also undefeated the last three seasons against out of state opponents. They are hoping to continue this run through Nationals this year. The second day of Nationals features a single elimination tournament, which the Spartans will hope to have a good seed to advance to their third straight Final Four appearance. Junior Will Hack says he’d like to play “James Madison” because of the fact that there is a James Madison College at Michigan State University. He’d also like to play “Depaul, because I’ve never had the chance to play them and I hear it’s a blast.”

The current guest list for Nationals includes the three other semifinalist teams from last year, Big Ten rival Ohio State, and common opponents Bowling Green and Western Illinois, which means the Spartans will have to take down some of the toughest competition in the league if they are to win a title. It also includes teams that MSU has not played, at least not in a while, including Kentucky, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Towson.

The formula for seeding for the second day is currently projected to be based off of 80% of the points you score on day one of Nationals, and 20% of the points you’ve earned during the regular season. Since Michigan State is currently in fifth place in the standings they should be in good shape, but they can’t afford to falter on day one.

The full schedule for Michigan State will be posted as soon as it is released.

Baller of the Week: Mike Van Ermen

Posted on March 27, 2012 by hiller87

Mike is a sophomore at Michigan State, and is in his second year of being on the varsity dodgeball team. He is improving every day, and can catch, throw, and block with the best of them. He’s an excellent mid-range player and has a powerful throw.

Q: What’s your favorite dodgeball memory been?

Mike: I would say beating Saginaw Valley at the Michigan Dodgeball Cup last year. I was left off the roster that traveled to SVSU earlier in the year, so this was the first time I had ever played them. I knew they were a good team so I was pretty excited we were able to pull of the win.

Q: How do you like the team’s chances for Nationals 2012?

Mike: I really like our chances for Nationals. I honestly believe that from spot one to spot fifteen, we are the deepest team in the league. If we play our game and don’t make unforced errors we should have too many problems. I feel if we cut down on the number of catches we throw we’d be unbeatable too.

Q: What do you think you can do to improve your game?

Mike: Get better at catching. Since the beginning of the year I’ve improved a lot, but I need to be more selective with what throws I try to catch. Too many times I go for a ball at my ankles and it bounces off my hands, but it will get better.

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