In Saturday's Region IV Tournament opener in Rockford, IL, the Madison College WolfPack volleyball couldn't get past the Harper College Hawks in theirthird meeting of the season, losing in three highly contested sets. Madison College played their hearts out, losing the first two games in close fashion (23-25 and 25-27), before dropping the final set 19-25. Ranked #5 in DIII volleyball by the NJCAA, the Harper Hawks had the #6 ranked WolfPack's number this year, winning the two previous matchups between the teams for the clean sweep of the 'Pack (3 matches to 0). After the heartbreaking play-off loss to the Hawks, the Madison volleyball team finishes their season with a record of 24-5 (10-2 in the N4C) and a share of the N4C conference title.

Terissa Bierd once again led the team's offense with 11 kills and three service aces, while contributing to the defense with 11 digs and one solo block. Morgan Ellickson (9) and Danielle Crawford (8) also pitched in offensively with respectable kill numbers, and combined with Bierd to record 28 of the team's 41 kills. Alexis Semrow was in on the majority of those kills as she picked up 37 assists, to go along with 12 digs. Vanessa Clarson led the team with in the dig category with 26, and besides Bierd's 11 and Semrow's 12, Ellickson also finished in double-digits with 10.

After the tough loss to the Hawks, the young WolfPack team looks to take advantage of the momentum gained during their 24-5 season. Adding to the prospects of another winning season in 2013 is that every member of the 2012 team was a freshman, and they all gained valuable experience in their N4C tri-championship season that saw that get ranked as high as #6 by the NJCAA.

All-Tournament Team:
Erinn Hellweg – Harper
Kelly Sommers – Harper
Emily Kramolisch – Joliet
Vanessa Clarson – Madison
Abby Buititta – RVC
Kristen Kotch – RVC
Breahna Stewart – RVC