MADISON, WISC. - Madison College appeared to be cruising to their fifth-straight match win Wednesday night inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium, however, the 13th-ranked WolfPack were unable to finish off long-time rival Rock Valley College and suffered a five-set loss. The Pack rolled in the first two sets, winning by scores of 25-14 and 25-15. The third set saw Madison College rally from down six and stave off a Golden Eagles set point to earn back-to-back match point opportunities, but was never able to secure that last point. Rock Valley College overcame the WolfPack by a 28-26 margin, and went to win the match by taking sets four and five by scores of 25-18 and 15-8, respectively.

The first set turned in Madison College's favor when libero Katie Wagner earned a rare kill to spark a seven-point run and put the Pack ahead 12-6. The WolfPack, who took full advantage of Gabby Hack's three blocks and posted a match-high team attack percentage of .375 in the set, led by as much as 12 after Kendall Weisensel's ace made it 21-9. Rock Valley College raced out to a 9-5 lead in the second set, only to see the home team rattle off eight straight points, and then used back-to-back aces from Daryn Schaefer to go up 18-12. They finished the set by winning nine of the final 13 points, including a kill for the team's newest member, outside hitter/defensive specialist Angelica Mayor from Venezuela.

Set three featured both teams putting together extended rallies, and after Madison College went on a 7-1 run, the set was even at 15-15. Visiting RVC then assumed a 20-16 edge before the Pack eventually tied the set at 23-23. When the Golden Eagles failed to close out the set at 24-23 thanks to a big WolfPack block, Madison College then faced back-to-back match point opportunities at 25-24 and 26-25. Rock Valley College not only denied the sweep, but also reeled off three straight points to begin their reverse sweep. 

Madison College continued to fight hard in the fourth as Schaefer served up three consecutive aces to even the score at 9-9, and then a Mariah Best's service run of five straight points put the Pack on top 16-15. From that point on, RVC closed the set with nine of the last 12 points, and then opened the decisive fifth set with a 6-0 run.

Madison College yielded a team-high ten kills in the second set, but amassed just 13 for the rest of the match. Freshman right side/middle blocker Sophia Venne was tops on the team with eight kills and hit at a .190 clip. Weisensel was next with seven kills on a team-high 30 attack attempts. 

Schaefer, a native of Mazomanie, Wisconsin, demonstrated her versatility with a team-best 18 assists and a career-high six aces. She produced her sixth double-double with a team-leading dozen digs, and also finished with three blocks and two kills. Best, a fellow setter, had 11 assists.

Defensively, Wagner had 11 digs and Weisensel tallied ten. Gabby Hack led Madison College's best block effort of the season with four as the team registered a season-high 11.

Rock Valley College (8-7), which made a run to the NJCAA Division III National Championship match last fall before moving up to Division II in 2022, has won five straight and eight of the last ten over the WolfPack en route to a 44-28-1 lead in the all-time series.

Up Next:

The Madison College (8-3) homestand continues with the team's second consecutive weekend tournament inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium, where the Madison College Quad will feature Minnesota State Community & Technical College (3-5), Lakeland University JV, and Bryant & Stratton College (2-3). The WolfPack will face the Lady Jays at 1:00 p.m., and follow with a 3:00 p.m. match against the Muskies. Madison College has not played Minnesota West since 2012 and owns a 6-1 record in the head-to-head series, while also boasting a 9-0 mark against Lakeland University JV. The matches will be streamed live at MadisonCollege.tv.

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