Just one week after winning the Michigan State tournament, the Marquette men's club volleyball team took first place at its own tournament.

The team defeated a USA Volleyball team, Not These Guys, in the finals Saturday and finished with a 6-0-1 record in the tournament and an overall preseason record of 21-2-1.

"The tournament went well from the beginning," said sophomore Matt Lane. "We have a well-balanced team; everyone is capable of putting a ball down when needed. This helped our team win the tournament this past weekend and the previous weekend at Michigan State."

After taking third place in Northern Illinois Fall Tournament and fifth in the University of Iowa's Fall Classic, team members felt that they needed to improve their focus, defense and intensity.

"There are certain aspects of everyone's game that can be improved," said freshman Aaron Brown. "We play well for stretches, and then lose focus and allow teams to get back into contention during matches. All in all, however, we are very pleased with our play as a whole."

The Michigan State tournament is the largest preseason tournament each year. The team had the number one seed entering the tournament, but Illinois was considered the favorite, according to Lane. The team's final three competitors were Big Ten schools — Wisconsin, Penn State, and Illinois. The team defeated Illinois in two games in the championship.

"It was a great feeling to win at Michigan State," Brown said. "Everyone put forth all their effort into winning this tournament, and it was a great team win. Beating such a talented team in Illinois in the finals was great, too."