Since its inception in 2006, the Grand Valley State University dodgeball team has been the juggernaut of the college ranks. But after losing ten players from last year’s roster, the team feels vulnerable for the first time in program history.

The inaugural 2006 season was the only season in which the national trophy did not land in the Lakers’ hands.

“It used to be that other teams were questioning why even show up for all the national tournaments because GVSU would just show up and wipe the floor with them,” said team captain Jimmy Stokes. “That’s not the case this year.”

After taking home the 2010 National Championship trophy, the team graduated 10 of its 20 players – last November’s match against Saginaw Valley State University was the first and so far only match with the team’s new lineup. They lost 3-0 – a large margin for a club that had never lost a game by more than a single point.

“We still believe that we’re the most talented team,” said club treasurer Gregg Trippeidi. “But we realize that everybody else is playing players with three and four years of experience, and we have a lot of experience, but we’re also relying on a lot of people that are in their first and second years.”

Club president Jeff Olson said plenty of the team’s underclassmen will get a chance to compete for a starting spot.

“The freshman class is pretty good, but we haven’t had the talent we’ve had before step up yet,” he said.

In response to the new lineup, the team has adjusted their practice sessions. While formerly, the team would simply show up at practice to play dodgeball, now they’ve developed a more regimented routine to help the younger players move along faster.

Stokes said despite new training methods, he did not expect the new lineup to be up to par with the old lineup until next season, or even the one after.

“The club that recently left was an abnormality,” Stokes said. “Everyone on that squad was very athletic, and if anything, they probably shouldn’t have been playing dodgeball. They should’ve been playing baseball or track or some other actual varsity sport. I think we just got amazingly lucky with them. It’s going to be hard to find a class that’s equal.”

The uncertainty of the coming season brings into question whether GVSU will be able to take a fifth-consecutive national trophy.

“This year, we think that we’re the favorite, but nothing should be expected of our performance,” Trippeidi said. “We’re taking a more game-by-game approach. This year, the fact that we might even reach the championships is not to be taken for granted.”

Graduating players is something of a given in any collegiate-level sport, and the team anticipates a time when it will not be the only one experiencing these changes.

“It’s hard because we have to bring our youngest players up to speed at a time when all the other Michigan teams have their best players as fourth and fifth year seniors,” Trippeidi said. “But in the next few years, everyone else is going to be experiencing what we’re experiencing.”

The team will play the second match of the 2011 season on Saturday against Central Michigan University.

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