EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State club dodgeball is making history. The club has been around for 20 years, and for the first time ever, they are bringing home a national championship title.
"I balled like a baby. I think our blacked out for a second, and then, everyone started coming to me and we were just so happy and proud of these guys," head coach Kevin Nguyen said.
Michigan State dodgeball has been building to this point for the past few years. Last year, the Spartans lost in the national championship game to Grand Valley State University.
"You step into this with such an expectation of being undefeated going into nationals. It was kind of what everybody wanted to keep going. Let's stay undefeated. Let's put in the work. Let's win. Let's get this done, especially after how last year ended," assistant coach Rebecca Nguyen said.
Michigan State got what they were looking for knocking off the Lakers in a dramatic fashion. In overtime, MSU won keeping their perfect record.
"These guys, ever since the fall when we first saw this freshman class, they really dedicated themselves to it. And I think that was the moment we knew [this team could be special]," Rebecca Nguyen said
Most of these players didn't come to MSU expecting to play dodgeball. Now, they cap off their career in style.
"I always thought our team was good enough to win a national championship and other things like that, but to get as much attention as we've gotten because of it, I could have never written it up," senior captain Josh Kramer said.
As the seniors leave, the Spartans will still be in good hands with two rookie of the year front runners taking the reigns.
"We have to get a lot of recruiting done, but we should be perfectly fine. We have some good guys staying with us and hopefully pick up some more good ones next year," freshman Matt Barriball said.
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