After performing well at the OSU Round Robin, Michigan State will be hosting their first tournament of the season on November 4th at IM West in East Lansing. Competing along with MSU will be Bowling Green, Depaul, Moody Bible Institute, Kent State, and Central Michigan. As the Spartans look to continue on their hot start to the season, they’ll have to deal with some tough competition. The teams have been split into two pools: Pool A features MSU, Bowling Green, and Depaul, while Pool B includes Kent State, Moody Bible, and CMU. The winners, second place, and third place teams of each pool will play each other for their third and final games of the day.

Michigan State hasn’t lost to BGSU since 2008, but they have played many hard fought games since then. Traditionally the Spartans drop the first point to BGSU, but come roaring back. They have won the last four years they have played, and look to continue that streak. For State to win they’ll have to limit Brady Etzler’s performance, and not throw catches to the Falcons. They also need to try and take the first point instead of giving BGSU hope that they can win the match, unlike last year at SVSU. Bowling Green starts their season at home this weekend at the BGSU Invite.

Depaul is 1-0 on the young season, having already beaten Moody Bible, but they’ll need to play a perfect game to upset Michigan State. The Spartans usually dominate the game against the Blue Demons, although Depaul isn’t as focused on winning as they are on having fun. The last two seasons MSU has played Depaul three times, and won all three by a combined 26-2 score. Depaul also lost two of their best players from last season, but they should still be competitive. They beat Moody Bible  3-1 in September, who was the best team in the “Illinois” region last year, so they can compete if they want to.

Moody Bible has new leadership at the top this season, and this will be their first tournament other than Nationals outside of the Chicago Dodgeball Open. While the Archers have some talent, the Spartans usually handle them fairly easily, with wins of 8-0, 6-0, and 5-0 in the history between these two foes. Led by Jake Ochoa and an All-NCDA team player in Ryan Pattison, the Archers could be the best team in the Illinois region again this year if they can pull off some upsets and get more matches in.

Michigan State has already handled Kent State once this season, 3-0 in Columbus, but they are still a solid team and will likely be a top 5 team in the standings by the end of the season. They have some power arms, especially in Camden Fullmer, and they have some excellent blockers. If they get more accurate or get hot they can beat anyone in the country, so MSU needs to be prepared to play if they do end up playing them. If the Spartans get cocky that they’ve already beaten them, then they can be beaten. If they are ready for the challenge, then they should take them easily.

CMU hasn’t lost to State since 2008, a total of 8 straight meetings, although all 8 meetings have come down to the wire. The two teams usually play to a 3-2 or 2-1 game, sometimes even in overtime, and unfortunately for MSU the Chips usually come out victorious. CMU lost two of their captains and star players in Pat Fisher and Eric Sweet, so MSU has a great chance to knock them off, but nobody will know how good CMU is until this weekend, when they travel to the BGSU Invite.