Most people probably didn’t know that Eastern has a men’s club volleyball team. One thing is for sure: the Midwest now does.

The 10-man self-organized and self-funded organization won the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Division II Championship Tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., last weekend.

The tournament consisted of 11 different teams, including Eastern. Teams from Central Michigan, Kent State, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rose Hulman, University of Illinois, Wittenburg, Wright State and Xavier also competed.

After dropping three of its four games in pool play, the team earned the second to last seed in the tournament bracket and would have to face an upward climb in the double elimination round.

Club president Jerry Teresi said the team was put at an early disadvantage because it was forced to forfeit the first game in its first match of bracket play against Michigan State.

“We were forced to forfeit our first game because we drove past our exit while on our way to the tournament,” Teresi said. “Without any warmup time, we were able to beat MSU the final two games and win the match.”

Eastern then beat Central Michigan, who had defeated Eastern the previous day and had not previously lost. The team then beat Xavier in the third game to earn a shot to play Illinois in the championship match.

“I think we shocked ourselves by how well we all played,” Teresi said. “We ended up having a positive frame of mind going into the tournament Sunday.”

That positive frame of mind gave them what they needed to top Illinois 15-25, 25-23 and 15-8 in three games.

Teresi credits outside hitter Chris Schulte as being the team’s MVP of the weekend.

“(Schulte) was just bombing balls all weekend,” Teresi said. “Everyone in the gym knew that the majority of our offense was him, and he still could not be stopped.”

Teresi said the team is made up of a lot of different guys from different backgrounds, and many of the players played in high school.

He gives a lot of thanks to Eastern women team’s coaches Brenda Winkeler and Melissa Beitz.

“They are always willing to help us out any way that they can,” Teresi said.

Other officers consist of Pete Grazzini, captain; Matt Kulp, public relations; and Roger Sugure, treasurer.

Teresi, a junior, is in his first year of running the team, taking over for former women’s assistant Ryan Thies, who is now coaching at Indiana University.

For information on next season’s tryouts, call Teresi at 348-6074.