Madison College played a top-five opponent on the road for the second-straight match and after winning the first set both times, the WolfPack came up empty in the win column for the second-consecutive time. After taking the first set from Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill. 25-19, the WolfPack lost two close sets by a combined seven points 22-25, 21-25 before dropping the final set 10-25.

"We have a horrible case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde going on right now, we were unstoppable in the first set and with the caliber of players we have this year, simple execution will produce results," said Head Coach Toby Parker. " We learned this from No. 4 Rochester as well. We are beatable when we don't sustain effort and focus."

Ashley Biesterveld, who was playing the Golden Eagles for the first time, continued to put up big numbers for the WolfPack in her first year with the team. She led the WolfPack with 10 kills to go along with 13 digs. She leads the team this season with 123 kills and is second on the team in digs with 66 midway through the season.

The WolfPack also got contributions from Kelsey Zimmerman and Hilary Frey who had 15 digs apiece, accounting for nearly half of the team's 68 digs. Up close to the net, Frey blocked four shots as did April Testman, who now has 35 blocks this season. Kirsten Halma rounded out the leader board for the WolfPack with 19 assists.

"Our offense took a season-high 166 attempts in this match. The problem was that Rock Valley's defense came to play and we couldn't put the ball on the floor. Our attackers will improve a great deal because of this match," said Parker.

The loss to No. 3 Rock Valley on Sept. 14 can be weighed more heavily than the loss to Rochester Community and Technical College just three days earlier. The loss dropped the WolfPack, the No. 5 ranked team in the country, to 3-1 in the North Central Community College Conference (N4C) and one game behind Rock Valley who improved to 4-0.

The match provided each team with the opportunity to rise above some mental hurdles from last season. It represented the first meeting between the two teams since the WolfPack defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2009 Region IV Championship Match.The Golden Eagles were 3-0 against the WolfPack in the regular season last year, but wound up losing the match bearing the most significance, the match with a national tournament appearance on the line.

Since joining the N4C in 2009, the Golden Eagles are the only conference opponent that the WolfPack have not defeated in regular season play. They are a flawless 13-0 against the rest of the conference over that same stretch.

Returning players Skye Kapinus, Testman and Zimmerman all have been in the position of needing to rebound from an N4C loss to Rock Valley before. It's up to the other nine women on the roster to learn from the loss and continue to improve as the WolfPack will look to play hard for the remaining half of the regular season and aim for another deep postseason run.

"This match was an opportunity for us to see how we matchup against a quality opponent. It was important for each of us to see where we are right now as a team. We enjoy competing against Rock Valley, but it's entirely too early in the season to focus on one opponent," said Parker. "The fact is, our schedule this week has us competing against four teams, from both Division II and III that are currently nationally ranked. We will take the lessons learned and move forward quickly."

The WolfPack are guaranteed a rematch against the Golden Eagles in Madison on Oct. 12 and will potentially face their conference rival again in late October depending on how the conference tournament shakes out. For now the WolfPack will focus their sights on their next opponent, Joliet Junior College, as the two teams will meet for the first time this season on Sept. 16 in Joliet, Ill. at 6:00 p.m.