Spotlighting MSU Volleyball’s First Postseason Team: The 1975 Spartans
9/6/2025 1:38:00 PM | Volleyball
In two weeks, Michigan State will welcome back over 50 years' worth of Spartan volleyball student-athletes to Jenison Field House. Among them are Hall of Famers, All-Americans, all-conference players and Big Ten Champions. MSU's alumni weekend will also celebrate something special for one group in particular – the 50-year anniversary of MSU volleyball's first postseason team in program history, the 1975 squad.
Led by second-year head coach Annelies Knoppers, the Spartans put together a 41-4 record in 1975, which still stands as the second-highest win total in program history, while the team's .911 winning percentage is also the second-best ever recorded by a Spartan volleyball team. MSU won the State of Michigan Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (SMAIAW) title and advanced to the program's first AIAW National Tournament in Princeton, New Jersey.
For those who experienced that season, though, 1975 was about more than the postseason or the wins. It was about breaking barriers, making history and laying the groundwork for all that was to come for Spartan volleyball.
Among the student-athletes on the 1975 team were Senior Mary Jo Hardy and junior Diane Spoelstra, who transferred to MSU from Delta College and Calvin College, respectively. Under the leadership of Dr. Nell Jackson, the first assistant director of Athletics for Women at MSU, women's sports were beginning to thrive at MSU at the time of Hardy and Spoelstra's arrivals.
"Just after Title IX was enacted, Michigan State really started to promote its women's programs, and so we were one of the first to be promoted like that. She (Jackson) really not only promoted us, but also supported us," said Knoppers. "To have institutional support like that was really a big step."
"I remember in high school, I was actually shooting baskets in the gym, the girls gym, which was the old gym. The boys had a nice, big, fancy gym," said Hardy. "And my coach came out and said, 'Hey, I just saw this in Sports Illustrated Magazine. There's Title IX. Opportunities are going to have to be equal. Things are going to happen."
By Hardy's senior year at MSU, things happened. The Spartans started the year on a 19-match winning streak, the second-longest in program history, won the SMAIAW Tournament and played in the MAIAW Tournament. For some players on the team, the Spartans' trip to New Jersey to play in the national tournament was their first time traveling on a plane.
"The fact that my senior year we finally went to the AIAW National Championship, to me, it's like, 'Okay, we're on our way to getting that equality. And obviously it was a very small start, but, we're on our way," said Hardy.
"I think looking back at it now, 50 years ago, there's actually more pride than when you were in the moment," said Spoelstra. "Because you really understand and realize what you were in that time of history, that you did lay the foundation. We hardly had a volleyball program at all in high school, we basically learned volleyball in college, so it's just so much pride playing with the players that we played with. You cherish it all your life."
Now, 50 years after making history for MSU volleyball, one thing has stayed the same for Hardy and Spoelstra – Spartan pride.
"I'm proud to be a Spartan because of all the things that we accomplished when we were here," said Spoelstra. It means having grit, having fierce loyalty, being courageous in certain situations, diligence, you're determined."
"Having gone to college here, gotten a degree, gotten a graduate degree, that's an accomplishment that I wasn't really sure I would ever do or have the opportunity to do," said Hardy. "So, that was a big thing. Playing with the team, this team, that was so cohesive and hard working and fun to be with and making such good friends. Michigan State has always been just a leader in so many areas where people that are down to earth and hard working get the job done."