Above: The Fellas, 2025 NCVF Championship
The Fellas finish the season 19th nationally
The Gold Team came into the season after an amazing run from the 2024-2025 team, coming in 9th nationally. With that record, we knew, the Irish were on the map. With this fuel, we fired away at our first pre-season tournament at Loyola Chicago, coming out victorious, outcompeting all varsity programs that participated. In December, we competed once again in the Madtown Smackdown in Madison, Wisconsin, taking home the prestigious award of Silver Bracket Champions.
Your Fighting Irish continued ablaze, jumping out to a 5-0 record during the first day of Midwest 10s, and the boys ultimately defeated Marquette in the championship to take home the division title, finishing 8-0 overall.
At the MIVA championships, despite a tough loss to Big Ten Champions Purdue in the Quarterfinals, we understood we had more to give and went back to the drawing board. Film sessions. Tactical analyses. Blocking & Cover Drills. Out of System Work. The whole 9. We doubled down to prove that our place as champions of the Midwest was earned, not given.
By the time nationals came around, we were battered and beat, but we were ready. During Day 1, we were challenged and our resilience was tested. We defeated Tennessee in a close 3-set thriller, and took a tough loss to Rutgers in 3 sets. It all came down to the last match. 1st place pool finish or last place finish were the stakes. On the featured Slunks court, the Irish battled against the number 3 team in the country, Cal Poly SLO. In another 3-set thriller and battle of the heavyweights, relying on our second mouse mentality, your Irish came out victorious 15-12 in the third set. Once again, the Midwest grit and blue-collar volleyball proved too much for the 'pretty boy' California volleyball. On Day 2, we unfortunately took 2 tough losses to UC-Irvine and Purdue, putting us in the Silver Bracket. On Championship Saturday, the Irish continued to fight, but unfortunately lost a battle against our local rivals Indiana, and finished tied for 19th in the nation. Despite the end of the season not being up to par with the expectations we held, we still hold our head high, knowing that for a small Catholic school out in the Midwest, we didn't do so bad. The ability of this team to battle through the adversity and fight till the end is something to be proud of.
Meanwhile, this was the Blue Team's third year, after a significant club expansion occurring before the 2023-2024 season. The growth of this team was evident throughout the season. With a team full of youngsters and with the help of some veteran leadership, this group of men competed in the MIVA B-Conference, battling the best across the Midwest and continuing the culture of grit, blue-collar ball, and selflessness long associated with NDMVB. They finished second in the Silver bracket of the MIVA Div-B Conference Championships, which shows tremendous growth and is something to be proud of. It is not hyperbole to say that these guys put the team first and work for something bigger than themselves.
The team would like to shoutout the leadership of seniors Ryan Farrell, George Henken, Andrew Sasso, Bryan Han, Michael Lund, Peter Youel, Luke Hofer, Mark Gonzalez, and Josiah Wilson, whose impact on this club will never be forgotten.
Most recent team updates appear here on the home page, while older news bits can be found on the news page
Last Updated: May 2026
The club team from 1988 on a trip to California to play UCLA, Pepperdine, and San Diego State (below)
