GLEN ELLYN, ILL. - With six wins in their first nine matches, the Madison College women's volleyball team is off to its best start of a season since the 2018 campaign when they were also 6-3. The WolfPack picked up three of those wins over the weekend as part of a 3-1 effort at the College of DuPage Chaparral Invite on Friday and Saturday. The weekend saw the Pack earn its first three-set sweep of the season, which they eventually did twice, and included an upset of the #7-ranked team in the NJCAA Division III Preseason Poll.

Match #1 (Friday): Madison College 3, Genesee Community College 0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-12)

The tournament opener proved to be a fairly easy test for Madison College, which was fresh off a thrilling four-set win over Morton College in the home opener two nights earlier. The WolfPack registered a .195 attack percentage for the match with 28 total kills. The third set proved to be their finest, with a dozen kills and a match-high .310 efficiency. 

The defense also came through in a big way to limit the Cougars attack as three players had double-digit digs and four different players picked up a block solo. Libero Katie Wagner led the way with 17 digs.

Setter Daryn Schaefer produced her fourth double-double with 13 assists and 11 digs, to go along with six kills and a block. Fellow setter Mariah Best had ten assists.

Freshman middle blocker/outside hitter Gabby Hack paced the Pack with seven kills and a .417 attack percentage. Kendall Weisensel and Schaefer were next with six each. Weisensel also had ten digs and a team-high five aces, a number that was matched by Tyra Anderson.

Madison College served up 15 aces, which stands as their most in a three-set match this season. It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs. 

Match #2 (Friday): Century College 3, Madison College 2 (25-27, 25-17, 25-12, 18-25, 15-7)

The lone blemish on the weekend was another heart-stopping five-set match for the Pack, their third in seven matches. After outlasting the Wood Ducks in extra points in the opening set, Madison College struggled to produced just six total kills over the next two sets as they fell behind. Set four found a rejuvenated offensive attack that yielded ten kills and a .176 attack percentage, however, the woes returned in the fifth with just one kill on 20 attempts.

The WolfPack did set a new season-high for digs in a match with 77, led by libero Katie Wagner with 18. Outside hitter/defensive specialist Kendall Weisensel was second with 17. Daryn Schaefer tallied 15 digs and 15 assists for her third consecutive match with a double-double.

Gabby Hack, a native of Lake Mills, Wisconsin, was the team's top hitter with seven kills, followed by five each from Weisensel and Tyra Anderson. Hack also finished with a team-high four blocks.

Madison College continued its red-hot service, and sent over a season-high 17 aces. Sophomore Mariah Best had five, followed by Wagner with four. Five players had multiple aces in the match.

The Pack now leads the all-time series 1-0. 

Match #3 (Saturday): Madison College 3, #7 Finger Lakes Community College 1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18)

The season's biggest win so far might be a four-set decision over Finger Lakes Community College, a team ranked nationally in the preseason poll. The WolfPack took advantage of 74 digs, six blocks, and 12 aces, as well as 42 kills and a .157 attack percentage. The Madison College offense really found its stride in the first and third sets, producing 14 kills and a .357 efficiency in the first, followed by 13 kills and a .278 percentage two sets later.

Hack continued her outstanding play at the net with a career-high 14 kills and a .545 hitting percentage. Defensively, the 5'11" freshman also had a pair of blocks. 

Tyra Anderson, a freshman outside hitter from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, had ten kills and two blocks as the only other player to reach that plateau. 

Setters Daryn Schaefer and Mariah Best tallied up 25 and 14 assists, respectively. Katie Wagner and Kendall Weisensel tied for team-high recognition with 19 digs each. 

It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Match #4 (Saturday): Madison College 3, St. Cloud Technical College 0 (25-21, 30-28, 25-21)

The weekend's final match was not as easy as the three-set sweep might indicate, with just ten total points separating the two teams. Madison College registered 36 kills and a .185 attack percentage for the match, with at least nine kills in every set. They amassed 16 kills in the second set, which needed extra points before being decided.

Outside hitter Tyra Anderson, a native of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, had a team-best 12 kills and hit at a .333 clip en route to her fifth double-digit kills performance of the season and a career-best efficiency. Kendall Weisensel was right behind with ten kills and 11 digs for her second double-double of the year.

Daryn Schaefer led the two-setter effort with 22 assists, while Mariah Best collected 14. Katie Wagner ran down a career-high 19 digs for the third time this season, and also had a team-best four aces. Weisensel and Schaefer were right behind with three aces each. 

The win evens the all-time series at 1-1, with both matches coming at the Chaparall Invite.

Up Next:

Madison College (6-3) is off until the Madison College Triangular on Saturday, September 3 inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium. It's the first of two home, multi-team events for the WolfPack, who will take on Bay College (MI/4-3) and Dakota County Technical College (MN/0-2). The first match at noon will mark the first-ever meeting between the Pack and the Norskies. After Bay College and DCTC go head-to-head around 2:00 p.m., Madison College will return to battle the Blue Knights at 4:00 p.m. The WolfPack lost in four sets to Dakota County Technical College last season in Minnesota, which marked their first-ever match. All three matches will be streamed live at MadisonCollege.tv.

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