Home court advantage proved to a difference maker in Sunday’s club dodgeball meeting between Grand Valley State University and Saginaw Valley State University, as the home team Cardinals beat GVSU 2-1.

The win by SVSU avenged an earlier loss to GVSU in which the Lakers defeated the Cardinals 4-1.

Dodgeball is played in two 25-minute halves. A point is awared when a team gets all 15 players from the other team out.

GVSU dodegball club president Dylan Fettig said that the team came out flat Sunday and never got comfortable.

“We had to battle against a big time home crowd and they were ready to go from the start, they really played to our weaknesses this time,” said Fettig.

Fettig said that the previous win against Saginaw Valley State may have helped the Cardinals develop a better game-plan against a veteran Laker team.

Saginaw Valley State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and never looked back, while withstanding a late first half surge by the Lakers only to run out the clock. Team Captain Mark Trippiedi said that was a huge momentum killer for the Lakers.

“They came out rip-roaring to go and they have the best home court advantage in college dodgeball,” Trippiedi said. ”Watching the clock run out instead of taking the second point of the match was tough on us.”

Dodgeball financial officer and team member Kenny Bailey said Saginaw Valley State’s game plan was to get the lead and play a conservative-type of game.

“We know how they like to play,” Bailey said. “Just like our first game against them we know they want to get out to an early lead and develop a defensive game.”

The Lakers played much of their roster and gave some of the underclassmen an opportunity to get some rivalry game experience.

“A loss is always disappointing but I think there was some good that came out of the match,” Trippiedi said. ”We were able to play a lot of our younger players and they got their first taste of the SVSU GVSU rivalry.”

With only four games so far this year GVSU is looking for all the competition it can find.

“We don’t have too many games on our schedule but we try to get teams to play us so we can stay game ready,” Fettig said. “We are tying to schedule Michigan State for Dec. 2 in Allendale but that’s still in the works.”

Trippiedi knows that the team isn’t going to let one loss destroy their hard work and camaraderie.

“All of us are friends and we have each other’s back,” Trippiedi said. ”It’s a balancing act being involved in a sport at school so you have to support your team all the time even when you lose.”

That attitude should bode well for a team with GVSU’s tradition. GVSU has won four of the last five national championships in dodgeball.

“We know what’s expected from us at GVSU,” Fettig said. “We expect the same high level of performance as the students who played on the team before us.”

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