Both teams shared a similar path to success, as each fell short of the national championship last season, losing in the final round. The defeats instilled humility and reinforced a focus on what they can control — lessons they carried into this season.

The championships build upon the club’s standard of success. The open team now has three national titles (2023-24, 2026), while the women’s team earned its first in its three years as a program. 

Both teams are coached by married couple Rebecca and Kevin Nguyen, who have years of competitive dodgeball experience. The club emphasizes learning the game and its strategies at the start of the school year before competition begins.

Last season and this season

Like every sport, winning becomes more difficult with each victory. Success makes it easier to take the foot off the gas or ignore areas of improvement. The open team experienced that struggle last season, losing to Miami (Ohio) in the final round of the NCDA tournament. 

MSU’s mindset was overly confident, and the team eventually let up, shocking itself when it gave up an early lead, and was unable to recover. 

“If anything, that loss is part of our success from this season,” said Jake Smith, future president and head captain of the team. “We were so much hungrier going to the nationals. We repeated it over and over and over again. ‘It doesn't matter how bad another team is. We're not underestimating them. We're going to go out there, play our game, our strategy, and we're going to show them what we are.’”

That mindset was displayed the night before the championship game. The team ended the night cracking jokes and watching film on its opponents before a self-imposed midnight curfew. The next day, No. 1 MSU took down four straight opponents, including No. 2 Ohio State. It was a tight contest that MSU trailed at one point but ended in a 4-2 win. 

The women’s team also drew from its previous years, just in a different way. Each year the team has gotten better, and MSU faced rival Akron in the finals for the third-straight season. The two teams have been each other’s biggest competition due to the small group of NCDA women’s dodgeball schools. 

“They study us, we study them, we know all the tricks,” said Paige Misner, outgoing president of the women’s team.

MSU dedicated time to studying Akron’s film, while also strengthening itself mentally and building each other up. Misner said this was the first time she wasn’t nervous before the game; the win felt like second nature. 

“I think this year, I really learned to rely on my teammates more,” said Misner. “I can trust them to do what they need to do, and that allows me to focus on what I need to do.”

Morgan Tiffany, future president of the women’s team, echoed Misner, adding that the team has built rapport within itself and is better at lifting itself up, leading to its comeback against Akron. 

“I'm not saying that the last two seasons we haven't put in the work, but this season was definitely different,” said Tiffany, adding the team developed new strategies, had a higher morale and played for its graduating seniors, too. 

Tiffany, a criminal justice junior, and Misner, a human biology senior, have been with the women’s dodgeball team from the beginning. They didn’t have a history to fall back on, but have been writing it themselves, making the championship more meaningful. 

Similarly, Adam Arnold, an environmental geosciences senior, has spent five years at MSU — all on the open team. He has been part of every national championship team, watching players leave the program better than they found it.

Arnold said last year’s group of seniors was on his mind when the team clinched the title this season. They were the people who taught him and made him call the dodgeball club home.

Looking to next season 

The open team is losing six of its starting players to graduation and the women’s team is in need of recruits as well. But the seniors have left a history of winning and competing at the top, as well as a welcoming culture. 

MSU Dodgeball Club will look different next season, but the standard of success and creating a friendly culture is something the group seeks to continue. Smith said the team’s coaches, as well as he, will never let the standard drop. 

“Next season’s standard is high,” said Smith. “Sounds silly, I know, but we're Michigan State Dodgeball. There's an expectation for us to be the best team in the league, and I don't want to let that standard drop one bit. I don't care that we're losing half of our starting roster. We have players that can come in, and if they're able to take that step and progress like they should, there's no reason we can't be as dominant as we were this season… Anything but a national championship, in my mind, is a failure.”

Smith, Arnold, Tiffany and Misner — like many of the players before them — discovered Dodgeball club at Sparticipation, MSU’s annual fall event that advertises student organizations. Both squads will have a recent national title to showcase at the 2026 Sparticipation, and that winning record helped draw Smith to the team. 

Smith arrived at MSU in 2023, the year the open team won its second national title. Smith said the title meant the club was legitimate, although he had no idea to what extent.

“Had they not won that national championship, I don't think I would have ended up going to that first practice,” said Smith. “That's kind of huge for us going forward, because we're going to recruit quite well. So winning the national championship this year was something that is obviously great for success this year, but going forward too.”