The Madison College women's volleyball team opened up the season with a second-place finish at the 15th annual College of DuPage Tournament in Glen Ellyn, Ill. on Aug. 27-28. The tournament featured 10 NJCAA Division II and III schools from the Midwest and two N4C foes in Harper College and the tournament host, College of DuPage.

The tournament opened up with two pools of teams where the WolfPack went 3-1 in Pool A, losing only to Highland Community College in two close sets in their third match of the tournament, 22-25, 23-25. The WolfPack won their first two matches over Oakton Community College (25-9, 25-21) and Vincennes University (25-21, 25-12) in four-straight sets.

Against Oakton, the three team captains, along with the rest of the team got off to a good start to the season. Skye Kapinus led the team with seven kills and April Testman was a solid force in the middle by recording four blocks. Fellow second-year player Kelsey Zimmerman added three aces for the WolfPack offense. In her first career appearance for the WolfPack, setter Leah Monti racked up 10 assists.

The WolfPack continued to play well in their second match of the tournament against Vincennes, where they got a large contribution from their first-year players. Monti tallied eight more assists and got another match under her belt at the setter position whereas Ashley Biesterveld led the team with six kills and Hannah Schwartzer added six digs. Calli Dahl led the team by serving up three aces and Testman recorded four blocks for the second-consecutive match.

Despite Monti sending out a career-high 15 assists, the WolfPack came up short against Highland in their first loss of the season. Kapinus, Testman and first-year player Hilary Frey all had six kills apiece in the match to lead the offensive attack for the WolfPack.

After losing to Highland, the WolfPack got back on track against DuPage in their final match of pool play, and the win assured them a ticket to the semifinals of the tournament. The WolfPack won the match convincingly, 25-18, 25-11. The offense was once again led by the trio of Kapinus, Testman and Frey, who had five kills each this match. Kirsten Halma led the WolfPack in assists for the first time in her young career at Madison College. She tallied 12 assists as the team's setter. Testman was also big defensively in the game by blocking four shots.

The WolfPack's record in pool play landed them in a semifinal matchup against Harper College, the Pool B winners. The familiar foe was defeated by the WolfPack in 11 of 12 sets and all four matches last season.

After falling in the first set 23-25, the WolfPack rallied behind the play of Biesterveld and Halma to defeat the Hawks and win the final two sets 25-13, 15-11. Halma recorded a season-high 22 assists for the WolfPack while Biesterveld put up similar numbers to what former First Team All-American Melissa Ernst put up last season with 14 kills and 12 digs in the match. With the win, the WolfPack advanced to the championship match.

Their opponent, Moraine Valley Community College (Division II) knocked off Highland en route to making it to the championship match. The Cyclones threw everything they had at the WolfPack and won the match in two sets 22-25, 20-25. Kapinus led things offensively with 8 kills and Testman blocked four shots for the fourth time in the tournament.

The loss gave the WolfPack a 4-2 record in their opening weekend of the 2010 season and the second-place finish leaves the team with with an early analysis of the young WolfPack team that returns just three players from last season's national tournament team.