MSU Men's Volleyball Club

11/06/2025

East Lansing, Michigan. The 35th Annual Spartan Back to the Hardwood Classic Tournament is being sponsored by the MSU Men’s Volleyball Club at the IM West Sports on November 8 and 9, 2025. The club is commemorating this year’s event by seeking
participant and spectator donations to the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Donation opportunities, the tournament schedule and more information can be found at http://msuvball.com.

Competitions will feature 48 collegiate club men’s volleyball teams in two divisions from throughout the Midwest, along with the University of Ottawa, Canada. MSU will wrap up pool play vs Ottawa at 1pm on Saturday at the IM Sports Arena.
I
n addition to clubs from MSU and Ottawa, other participating Michigan college men’s club teams at this year’s “Hardwood Classic” will include the U of Michigan, Western Michigan
U, Central Michigan U, Grand Valley State U, Davenport U, U Detroit Mercy, and Oakland U. They will join teams from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, in pool play on
Saturday, Nov 8, and Division 1 and 2 bracket playoffs and championship matches on Sunday, Nov 9. Admission to the event is $5.

The “Hardwood Classic” is a pre-season tournament for college club teams that play in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, a 90-team collegiate club volleyball league that has been operating since 1959. The club’s annual tournament is the largest of its kind in the country, draws hundreds of spectators, fans and supporters to the Greater Lansing area, and is a regional preview of the club volleyball season that begins each January.

The Spartan club and others like it have long promoted the sport by conducting tournaments, camps and clinics and by offering club-sponsored training and organized intercollegiate competition opportunities for interested students.

This year, the Michigan High School Athletic Association has joined similar Midwest state associations by recognizing boys volleyball as a sanctioned high school sport. This growth is providing an expanded feeder system for club and varsity programs throughout the state and region, and will be on full display at this year’s “Hardwood Classic.”

09/10/2025

Good Afternoon Alumni!

For those that are on our monthly alumni newsletter mailing list, you should have already seen plenty of info about our 2nd Annual Forrester Golf Outing. For those that haven't, please give this post a read!

On Saturday, October 4th, MSU Volleyball Club is hosting the second outing named in honor of our former club President Tim Forrester. Last year our inaugural event was a huge success, and we are hoping to top it this year. The outing is a 4-man scramble with a shotgun start at 10am at Forest Akers East Golf Course here in East Lansing. There will be prizes to the winners, as well as the various mini games that will be going on throughout the day.

Additionally, this event serves as a very big fundraising opportunity for our club. We have two primary methods of fundraising planned for the weekend. First, we are offering sponsorships to all 18 holes. If you, your company, or anyone you know would be interested in sponsoring a hole for the day, we would be beyond grateful to have your support. You do not have to be participating in the outing or at the event on the 4th to be a sponsor. Second, we will have a giant raffle going on throughout the outing with many different prizes being raffled off. This will take place on the course and at the afterparty hosted at the Men's Volleyball Club house.

If you are interested in either participating in the outing or sponsoring a hole for us, attached are the outing sign up form as well as the sponsorship info flyer. Grab your best 3 scramble partners and sign up to compete, or if you'd like to sponsor a hole please shoot us an email and we will gladly get back to you right away about details. Thank you all and we hope to see plenty of you soon! Go Green!

- Jake Reishus, Treasurer, MSUMVC

2nd Annual Forrester Sign up form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUvMR6mdQa4MiQm19q5fNaDsZBHFFAXmiOWazh9RMUlmdWgA/viewform?usp=dialog

Sponsorship Interest: Email us at [email protected]

07/05/2025

This past week I attended the AAU Boys Volleyball Championships in Orlando.

Four of my former MSU players had their son’s playing. It was heartwarming to see the sport being enthusiastically passed to a new generation. Notably, 17 year-old Jermaine Johnson Jr. brilliantly set his team from Niagara-Frontier (Buffalo, NY) to their first-ever AAU National Championship. “JJ” will be at MSU this coming fall.

Kudo’s to the playeys, Jermaine Johnson Jr. (Jermaine Johnson, Sr.), Nolan Meyer (Eric Meyer), Brode Habeck (Dan Habeck) and Charlie Englehardt (Dan Englehardt), for taking the torch from their amazing Spartan Men’s Volleyball Club dads! It was only yesterday…

While at the event, I also had a chance to watch Reed Johnson, a tremendously talented young man from Minnesota, Dominic Presberg, a total class act from Wisconsin, and Kieran Tu, an enthusiastic leader from Illinois. Each of these boys will join JJ as freshmen at MSU. These winners are among many children of trailblazing club and varsity volleyball alumni and supporters that have embraced the sport of volleyball as a vehicle to pursue personal growth.

Congratulations to all these young men, their outstanding families, coaches, teammates and supporting communities!
Thanks to the incomparable Jermaine Johnson Sr. and his wonderful family for extending daily hospitality to me, both on the way to and while attending the event. Every day was an adventure! And a warm thanks to MSU White team legend Joe Harvey (“Clubby”) and family for arranging a fantastic lunch stopover, and for the kindness shown by so many well-wishers at the event.

It is personally gratifying and such a special blessing to see how opportunities can grow and improve every-day lives by simply opening a door for others.

05/23/2025

05/23/2025

Another exceptional year in the books!

MSU Green won the 2025 Big Ten regular season club championship going 8-1 playing in the most competitive Division 1 club conference in America. The team achieved as high as a #2 ranking and finishing in the top 25 of over 200 clubs nationally. Three players were selected by their peers as all-conference: Jake Reishus (Jr), Setter, Levi Cowan (Jr), Libero and Dylan Lanthier (Sr), Outside Hitter.

MSU White earned a top 8 finish out of over 40 B teams in the Midwest, while MSU Posse and Greenhorns continued their decades-long tradition of developmental training for new players seeking roster spots on the club’s top teams.

Special thanks goes out to the graduating seniors (a very special group), parents, alumni, coaches, friends, administrators and superlative club leaders, spearheaded by club president and co-captain, Jake Reishus (JR) and the club’s E-Board. The club produced the first-ever Forrester Golf Outing (in honor of the late #5, Tim Forrester, 1989), the 34th Annual 48-team Hardwood Classic Tournament (still the largest preseason collegiate volleyball tournament in the nation), the 24th annual Holiday Classic Alumni Fundraiser (for the Greater Lansing Food Bank), camps and clinics for all ages, grass tournaments at Valley Court Park in East Lansing (anticipated to be renamed “Volley” Court Park), parent-organized tailgates at venues throughout the Midwest, fund-raising drives, a parent’s and family volleyball weekend at the Volleyball House, a club-wide hayride, numerous team dinners, a full schedule of intercollegiate MIVA competitions, weekly practice and training sessions and a host of informal gatherings that helped keep the best of the club’s family traditions strong throughout the year.

One of those traditions includes ongoing efforts to grow the sport at every level. For several decades, the club has been a driving force supporting the development of boy’s high school volleyball, particularly in Michigan. This year was no exception. Special welcome to all the new Michigan high school boys volleyball players and throughout the country, including, some amazing out of state talents who will be joining Spartan Nation this coming fall!

JJ Johnson, son of MSU Men’s Volleyball Club legend Jermine Johnson, set the assist record at St. Joseph High School in Buffalo, New York, and will be enrolled as a freshmen at MSU this fall, studying computer science engineering and finance. Hailing from Bemidji, Minnesota, Reed Johnson, co-captain of his high school team and a top ranked outside hitter in his state, will join the Spartans this fall and bring his academic wizardry in pursuit of a mechanical engineering degree. Reed and his parents helped start the high school program at Bemidji and will continue their pioneering support of volleyball at MSU. Johnson & Johnson hope to be joined by Dominic Presberg, an all-star and all-conference libero from Whitefish Bay, WI, who has announced that he will be enrolling at MSU this fall and pursuing a business degree. These guys are awesome and will join perhaps one of the most deeply developed in-state boys volleyball playing groups ever assembled as freshmen in East Lansing.

The emergence of boy’s high school volleyball in Michigan and the Midwest foretells some wonderful new success stories for the MSU club and their counterparts throughout the nation. Together with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the sport is poised to enjoy continued explosive growth at the beach, on the grass, in the snow (yes, there snow volleyball is a recognized Olympic discipline) and, of course, in the gymnasium. MSU Men’s Volleyball is proud to have long been a part of and contributed to this historic grassroots movement. With all the ongoing changes in athletics, new facilities and monetary investments, volleyball leadership at MSU and beyond will take on a whole new dimension.

By vote of 2025 MSU MVBC players, the MSU club leadership baton has been passed into some very worthy hands for the upcoming 2026 season: Sam Henn (JR) will serve as President, Xavier Wright (SR) as Vice President, Jake Reishus (SR) as Treasurer and Briand Park (JR), as Secretary. This leadership team, along with support from the MSU women’s volleyball club and many other enthusiastic trailblazers, are ready to make 2026 a monumental success story, both in East Lansing and beyond.

05/23/2025

Another exceptional year in the books!

MSU Green won the 2025 Big Ten regular season club championship going 8-1 playing in the most competitive Division 1 club conference in America. The team achieved as high as a #2 ranking and finishing in the top 25 of over 200 clubs nationally. Three players were selected by their peers as all-conference: Jake Reishus (Jr), Setter, Levi Cowan (Jr), Libero and Dylan Lanthier (Sr), Outside Hitter.

MSU White earned a top 8 finish out of over 40 B teams in the Midwest, while MSU Posse and Greenhorns continued their decades-long tradition of developmental training for new players seeking roster spots on the club’s top teams.

Special thanks goes out to the graduating seniors (a very special group), parents, alumni, coaches, friends, administrators and superlative club leaders, spearheaded by club president and co-captain, Jake Reishus (JR) and the club’s E-Board. The club produced the first-ever Forrester Golf Outing (in honor of the late #5, Tim Forrester, 1989), the 34th Annual 48-team Hardwood Classic Tournament (still the largest preseason collegiate volleyball tournament in the nation), the 24th annual Holiday Classic Alumni Fundraiser (for the Greater Lansing Food Bank), camps and clinics for all ages, grass tournaments at Valley Court Park in East Lansing (anticipated to be renamed “Volley” Court Park), parent-organized tailgates at venues throughout the Midwest, fund-raising drives, a parent’s and family volleyball weekend at the Volleyball House, a club-wide hayride, numerous team dinners, a full schedule of intercollegiate MIVA competitions, weekly practice and training sessions and a host of informal gatherings that helped keep the best of the club’s family traditions strong throughout the year.
One of those traditions includes ongoing efforts to grow the sport at every level. For several decades, the club has been a driving force supporting the development of boy’s high school volleyball, particularly in Michigan. This year was no exception. Special welcome to all the new Michigan high school boys volleyball players and throughout the country, including, some amazing out of state talents who will be joining Spartan Nation this coming fall!

JJ Johnson, son of MSU Men’s Volleyball Club legend Jermaine Johnson, set the assist record at St. Joseph High School in Buffalo, New York, and will be enrolled as a freshmen at MSU this fall, studying computer science engineering and finance. Hailing from Bemidji, Minnesota, Reed Johnson, co-captain of his high school team and a top ranked outside hitter in his state, will join the Spartans this fall and bring his academic wizardry in pursuit of a mechanical engineering degree. Reed and his parents helped start the high school program at Bemidji and will continue their pioneering support of volleyball at MSU. Johnson & Johnson hope to be joined by Dominic Presberg, an all-star and all-conference libero from Whitefish Bay, WI, who has announced that he will be enrolling at MSU this fall and pursuing a business degree. These guys are awesome and will join perhaps one of the most deeply developed in-state boys volleyball playing groups ever assembled as freshmen in East Lansing.

The emergence of boy’s high school volleyball in Michigan and the Midwest foretells some wonderful new success stories for the MSU club and their counterparts throughout the nation. Together with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the sport is poised to enjoy continued explosive growth at the beach, on the grass, in the snow (yes, there snow volleyball is a recognized Olympic discipline) and, of course, in the gymnasium. MSU Men’s Volleyball is proud to have long been a part of and contributed to this historic grassroots movement. With all the ongoing changes in athletics, new facilities and monetary investments, volleyball leadership at MSU and beyond will take on a whole new dimension.

By vote of 2025 MSU MVBC players, the MSU club leadership baton has been passed into some very worthy hands for the upcoming 2026 season: Sam Henn (JR) will serve as President, Xavier Wright (SR) as Vice President, Jake Reishus (SR) as Treasurer and Briand Park (JR), as Secretary. This leadership team, along with support from the MSU women’s volleyball club and many other enthusiastic trailblazers, are ready to make 2026 a monumental success story, both in East Lansing and beyond.

07/31/2024

R.I.P.Russ Rivet, form MSU Club Sports Director, Dream Weaver and Inspirational Leader.

The MSU MVC honors the memory of Russ Rivet and extends condolences to his family and loved ones. Russ gave special meaning to “IM Sports for All” by being our main university advocate in 1980’s and 1990’s. He helped us form the Green, White, Posse and Greenhorns teams (and many others from decade to decade),. He helped the club gain community and university support, establish our annual “Back to the Hardwood” tournament, televise home events, attract sponsors, and make the IM West Arena home to thousands of students and VB visitors for many years. His motto was “losers make excuses, winners find solutions.” In his honor, the MSU MVC will always seek solutions.

07/12/2024

This months newsletter is out! Check your emails for the July issue. We have many dates and important events in the works to share with you all! If you did not receive the newsletter and would like to be added to the mailing list, please fill out this form below.

Hello Alumni! Please fill this form out if you'd like to subscribe to our monthly alumni newsletters. If you're not sure if you're on it already, not a problem, you can still fill this out to make sure. All responses before our next newsletter will be sent our May issue. Please email us with any que...

05/10/2024

https://www.mlive.com/highschoolsports/2024/05/mhsaa-adds-boys-volleyball-girls-field-hockey.html

LET'S GO!!!!!

Boys volleyball and girls field hockey are added to the MHSAA calendar; winter sports finals moving up a week in 2026

05/07/2024

Our May alumni newsletter is officially out! Please check your emails for our newest issue about our newly elected eboard, a recap of how Sante and his Green team and our White and Posse teams performed at nationals, and upcoming events to look out for! If you did not receive it and would like to be added to our email list, please fill out this form below!

https://forms.gle/gP1heoiJCkMw6duJ9

Note - For those who already received the newsletter, there is a typo in the second paragraph. We are obviously extremely proud of all our players.

Hello Alumni! Please fill this form out if you'd like to subscribe to our monthly alumni newsletters. If you're not sure if you're on it already, not a problem, you can still fill this out to make sure. All responses before our next newsletter will be sent our May issue. Please email us with any que...