ROCKFORD, ILL. - It was a 1-2 punch to the gut Tuesday for the Madison College women's volleyball team, who hours after learning they had fallen out of the NJCAA Division III Polls after another massive shake-up in the top ten, lost a heartbreaking five-set match on the road to #9 Rock Valley College. The North Central Community College Conference rivals traded sets until the Golden Eagles outlasted the WolfPack by a 26-28, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 15-13 final to hand Jeff "J.T." Thomas and company their first conference loss of the season. The 'Pack, now no longer the only unbeaten team in the N4C, have dropped two of the last three meetings with RVC and trail 27-38-1 all-time in the series, with a regular season rubber match scheduled for October 16 in Madison.

A grueling first set went back-and-forth before Madison College pulled out a narrow victory. The competitive match eventually found itself in a winner-take-all fifth set that wasn't decided until Rock Valley College (11-6, 4-1) tallied the final few points in the first five-set match played by the WolfPack this season.

Madison hit .129 for the match with 53 kills and 32 hitting errors on 163 attack attempts. The visitors also registered nine aces, three blocks, and 78 digs, the last of which sets a new season-high.

Three players reached double-figures in kills, with outside hitters Paige Hostetler and Tianna Sackett setting the pace with 17 apiece. Sackett established a new career-high with her effort, doing so on a season-high 40 attempts to post a .300 attack percentage. The West Salem, Wisconsin, native now owns four double-digit kills performance. Hostetler, who has ten or more kills in every match this season needed 64 attempts and committed 15 errors for a .031 efficiency. The sophomore was also one of five players reaching the double-digit plateau for digs, as her 15 was part of a three-way tie for the team lead.

Freshman Isabella Carrillo recorded her second consecutive match with at least ten kills and hit .231 overall. Second year setter Olivia Darkow amassed 40 assists for the third time this season to reach 500 total assists on the year.

Defensive specialists Paige Alsum and Maddie Scalissi joined Hostetler with 15 digs, one better than Darkow. Freshman Kacee Kruczek, a former Denmark HS athlete, collected 11 digs for her third match in double-figures.

Up Next:

Madison College (9-7, 3-1), now unranked for the first time this season, is one of three teams atop the N4C standings with a single loss. The other is Harper College, who visits Madison on Thursday. The Hawks (11-7, 4-1) jumped from #8 to #6 after falling from the top spot the week before. The three-time defending N4C champions have won six consecutive matches over the WolfPack, who still lead 16-15 in the all-time series. First serve is at 6:00 p.m. inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium.

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