For the first time in club history, Michigan State dodgeball won the national title. You love to see it.
Now I understand this page is filled with the varsity sports, but it is time we show our club teams some love, too. For this 2023 Michigan State Dodgeball team, it is more than well deserved.
On Sunday, they brought home the school’s first NCDA National Title in the programs 20-year history and completing a 19-0 campaign in all competition.
We will start this story in 2020, when a group of four freshmen came to the team in the fall. Jack Girling, Barry Butler III, DQ McClean, and Josh Kramer filled out a freshman class that joined a top-five ranked national team.
After a strong start to the year, we all know what happened that spring as classes were canceled and the world was flipped on its head due to the COVID-19 pandemic and not only the 2020 but the 2021 seasons were canceled. The club almost did not come back after losing not only one but two straight years of senior classes. Because of this, the numbers dwindled immensely.
The question was: who would step up? The answer to that question starts with the coaches. Kevin and Becca Nguyen. These two coaches met through dodgeball and are now married, and they jointly run this club program. One player told me that without these two’s dedication to the team, there would be no MSU program.
Through their leadership, the team continued into the 2022 season.
Those 2020 freshmen of Girling, Butler III, McClean, and Kramer were now upperclassmen forced into bigger roles as the team’s leaders and captains and joined by an excited and hungry set of newcomers ready to play for the first time 18 months. During the 2022 season, Girling and Butler III became well known as the best arms in the nation with a mix of deadly accuracy and blazing power, while Kramer was heralded as the best hands in the NCDA and McClean became the voice in the middle making sure all the new talent was always where they needed to be.
One of the new freshmen was the powerful Alec Deen, who was rookie of the year for NCDA’s 2022 season due to his ability to overpower the defense with his fastball.
The regular season came to a close with the No. 2 ranked Spartans beating James Madison in sudden death overtime to advance to meet No. 1 Grand Valley State, facing off for the championship. The Spartans ran out of steam, falling short to the Lakers of GVSU. Although they fell short the Spartans became a national title favorite with the coined “Core Four” juniors coming back for a senior season.
To start 2023, MSU was again ranked top-five nationally and Girling and Butler III were now superstars and feared by the whole league competing against each other for NCDA MVP and McClean continued to be a force in the middle and Kramer was named head captain and the leader of the team on the court.
They had one goal: to avenge the loss of last season and bring home the top prize for the players and especially coaches that stuck with the program through the pandemic.
On Feb. 13, Kramer was assisting coaches Kevin and Becca with the newly created women’s dodgeball team at IM Circle when the school went into lockdown due to the shooting that rocked the whole Spartan community but especially the students on campus that night. As the group locked themselves in a basement storage closet for four hours until the police came, giving all clear to go home.
Rocked by the shock and fear of what happened that tragic night the team didn’t know how to move forward. Their biggest tournament of the year, the Michigan Dodgeball Cup, was supposed to happen that weekend. After getting the green light the team decided to keep the tournament on schedule and became one of the first teams to compete and try to bring some hope, joy, and normalcy back for the players, students, and their families. They did that by taking home the Cup, overcoming all the adversity and coming back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat longtime rival Grand Valley.
This team just would not stop there, they stayed motivated by all the obstacles they went through — COVID, the disappointment of 2022, a tragic event that rocked us to the core — this team was Spartan Strong and Spartan Tough.
They carried the momentum of the Michigan Dodgeball Cup into the national tournament. On Saturday in pool play to set the final bracket, the Spartans dominated three straight victories to earn the overall No. 1 seed in the 16-team bracket. The Sweet 16 saw the Spartans advance with a 4-2 victory over Miami (OH). The Spartans continued to the Elite Eight to take on Nebraska, and they caught fire in this match as they ran through the Cornhuskers 5-1.
I told you they caught fire and it really showed here with a complete performance demolishing James Madison 5-0 to advance on to a familiar foe GVSU in the title game.
This rematch of the 2022 final lived up to the hype and at halftime after only 1 point taking up the whole first half the Spartans found themselves in a similar position trailing to their rivals. The second half was again an absolute battle with clutch throws and even tougher catches the Spartans earned the final point to bring this final to overtime.
After an intense 6 vs. 6 overtime match, the Spartans would not be denied as the match ended after Nick Fedewa a junior first year player knocked out GVSU’s last standing player to seal a 2-1 marathon victory and giving MSU its first ever National Championship, and a crowning achievement for four players and two coaches that never gave up and made us all proud.
Congratulations to your 2023 national championship Michigan State Dodgeball team.
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