Joseph Edgecomb / Collegian File Photo

Men̢۪s club team wins second national title in last five seasons

A year after taking third at the National Campus Championship Series (NCCS), the Fresno State men̢۪s volleyball team finally got some redemption, winning the 2009 national title in Kansas City.

“This was by far the best moment in my volleyball career,â€Â said senior Jake Wiens, who was named tournament MVP. “It was the pinnacle.â€Â

Saturday, Fresno State was able to make its mark in the world of collegiate men̢۪s volleyball by defeating University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh 26-24, 25-27, 16-14 in the championship game.

And to the Bulldogs̢۪ surprise, they were actually the crowd favorite. A crowd of over 3,000 was cheering for the Fresno squad at the Bartle Convention Center, and it wasn̢۪t until player introductions prior to the start of the game that Wiens said he and his teammates realized they had the crowd behind them.

“We had very few home games, so we aren’t used to playing in front of our home crowd,â€Â Wiens said. “We didn’t realize it ’till right before the game that we were [crowd] favorites and they started cheering for us.â€Â

After the first two games the match was tied at 1-1, and pushed to a third game where halfway through the Bulldogs trailed 8-7 before pulling even with the Titans at 12.

Fresno State made a hitting error while up 14-13, wasting an opportunity to close the match, but instead allowed Oshkosh to tie it again.

Joseph Edgecomb / Collegian File Photo

But, the relentless ̢۪Dogs continued to fight back. At the second and final game, point senior Kit Maddox, who was named First Team All-Tournament, made a block to put his team up 16-14 and solidify the win.

“The best part of all this is that we went undefeated in the tournament,â€Â Wiens said. “We haven’t had any bad experiences and we are all good friends, so this was just great.â€Â

Fresno State entered the 48-team Division I tournament as the No. 1 team in the nation, and proved they were deserving of the ranking.

To start pool play, Fresno went 3-0 with victories over Notre Dame, Rutgers and University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Matches were best of three games, but the Bulldogs only needed seven games to surpass first round play.

Taking first in their pool, placed the team in the championship round on April 10, as they beat Navy and Penn State to advance to the final round Saturday.

Defeating Boston College and Colorado, placed the Bulldogs in the semifinals against Lakeland, the defending national champions.

The ̢۪Dogs got into an early hole losing the first game of the semi-final match 18-25, but quickly rebounded to win the second game 25-18.

Game three was a tough battle, but a 15-12 victory placed them in the finals.

Going undefeated in the tournament helped improve Fresno State̢۪s record to 46-3.

“46-3 is an unbelievable record in any sport,â€Â Tsukimura said . “Only losing three matches in year, that’s just crazy.â€Â

And what is even crazier is that the 15-member squad has nine freshmen. After last year̢۪s disappointing end to the season, players such as Wiens were considering not coming back to play.

However, after seeing the level of talent coming in, he decided to come back and give it one last try, and it couldn̢۪t have worked out better.

Tsukimura said his team is more unique than any other team he has ever coached due to the team chemistry.

“I think they are all sort of competitive,â€Â Tsukimura said. “But I think they are all just genuinely nice guys that think of the team first.â€Â