Back-To-Back GLIAC Champion Football & Volleyball Teams To Be Honored Monday Night

Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University Athletics will honor and recognize a pair of back-to-back Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship teams for their success in the fall on Monday (Feb. 1) night during FSU's league home basketball doubleheader against rival Grand Valley State at Jim Wink Arena.

During halftime of the men's basketball contest, the Bulldogs' league title-winning football and volleyball squads will be introduced in front of the home crowd. Both teams captured their second consecutive GLIAC Championships during the recently-completed fall campaign.

Ferris State head coaches Tony Annese and Tia Brandel-Wilhelm, who both also claimed GLIAC Coach of the Year recognition this past fall, will join their student-athletes and coaching staff members for the presentation along with FSU Athletics Director Perk Weisenburger.

The GLIAC doubleheader gets underway at Wink Arena starting with the women's game at 6 p.m. (ET). The men's contest is slated for an 8 p.m. (ET) tipoff as FSU hosts the Lakers for the first matchup this season on the hardwood.

This past fall, the Bulldog volleyball squad, which made the school's fifth-straight and 20th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, finished the 2015 campaign with a 33-3 overall record. FSU won its second-straight GLIAC Regular-Season Championship and claimed the school's second consecutive GLIAC Tournament title while earning the right to host the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament where FSU finished as the regional runner-up.

This year marked the 14th time in 20 seasons under Brandel-Wilhelm in which FSU Volleyball has claimed at least 20 victories in a campaign. The Bulldogs also made their 18th consecutive GLIAC Tournament appearance while achieving a number one national ranking for the first time during the 2015 campaign. Along with being the GLIAC Coach of the Year, Brandel-Wilhelm also earned AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year honors.

Meanwhile, the Bulldog football squad finished 2015 with an 11-1 overall record for the second-straight year and captured the school's second GLIAC Championship in the last two seasons while capping off back-to-back unbeaten regular seasons. Ferris State also stretched its regular-season win streak to a current 25-game stretch and posted the first NCAA Playoff victory in 19 years. 

Under Annese's direction, the Bulldogs also led the country with four Academic All-Americans and senior quarterback Jason Vander Laan claimed his second consecutive Harlon Hill Trophy as the nation's top NCAA Division II player. FSU was ranked among the nation's top 10 teams all season, including the school's highest ever national ranking at #2 in the American Football Coaches Association poll. Annese was also the Football Gazette Super Region Four Coach of the Year in addition to the GLIAC Coach of the Year.