The ISU men’s volleyball club went 5-1 and finished tied for first place with Wisconsin-Oshkosh at the Midwest 10 Conference Tournament at Marquette last weekend.

“We had the possibility of doing very well. Our goal was 4-2, so we are happy with how we did,” said club president Ben Barnes, junior in mechanical engineering.

The team claimed victories over Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, Lakeland, Notre Dame and Illinois State.

Not every member of the club competed in the tournament. The ISU men’s volleyball club is divided by skill level into three separate teams.

The Navy team is the beginner team, competing in local U.S. Association of Volleyball tournaments in the Ames area. The teams the Navy group plays are from local adult leagues.

The Gold team consists of intermediate players who travel around the Midwest for tournaments throughout the year against local collegiate competition. The Gold team also plays in higher level U.S. Association of Volleyball tournaments in the Ames area.

The Cardinal team is the upper-level squad that travels throughout the United States and plays in national competitions such as the Midwest 10 tournament.

Although the men’s club players are not scholarship athletes like the ISU women’s varsity team, their style of play is still much more uptempo than the women’s game, said Jeffrey Wiedemann, club treasurer and junior in pre-business.

“Men’s volleyball is much faster and stronger than the women’s game. Men can jump higher, hit harder and block bigger,” Wiedemann said.

The club practices from 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday nights in Room 175 of the Forker Building. Practices are mostly student-run, but Barnes credited ISU women’s volleyball assistant coach Trent Herman for helping out when he can.

Practices are spent mostly working on the fundamentals of volleyball.

Anybody with any experience level can be a part of the club.

“Most of our players have had little or no experience playing volleyball before joining, and now most of them are above-average players who can play at most levels,” Barnes said.

On Feb. 7, the club will host its sixth annual tournament called “Chaos in the Cornfield.” The tournament consists of 16 teams that are split up into groups of four and play a round-robin tournament in the morning, with every team playing one another. Following the morning session, all 16 teams will be seeded into a 16-team single-elimination tournament in the afternoon.