MADISON, WISC. - The Madison College women's volleyball team survived an early scare Wednesday night inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium, and finished the night with a 3-1 win over in-state and Region 4 rival Bryant & Stratton College. After dropping the first set, the WolfPack, ranked #14 in the latest NJCAA Division II Poll, rattled off wins in three straight sets to improve their current match win streak to four. They are not 7-1 all-time against the Bobcats with five consecutive match wins.

A 5-0 run early in the first set put Madison College up 6-4, however, the Bobcats responded with an 8-1 stretch to assume a comfortable lead. Bryant & Stratton College (3-11) continued that momentum and tallied several aces in winning 12 of the final 18 points for a one-set-to-none lead.

Four consecutive points, including back-to-back Kendall Weisensel aces, midway through the second set put the Pack in position to even the match. The offense found a groove in the second set and posted 14 kills and an impressive .600 attack percentage. They closed the set on a 12-5 surge that started with a Sophia Venne block and ended with a Daryn Schaefer kill.

Set three completely belonged to the WolfPack, who opened on a 6-1 run that featured two kills from Coutney Gorum. A run of four straight points made it 15-7 on an Addyson McHugh kill, and after back-to-back points by BSC, Madison College tore off on a 10-0 run that again started with a Venne block and ended with another successful attack by McHugh. The home team hit .462 with 13 kills in the third set.

The Bobcats didn't go down without a fight, and built a 10-4 lead early in the fourth set. A time out at 16-12 by coach Mallory Stone stemmed the tied as Gorum's kill out of the huddle was the first of three from the freshman as the home team clawed their way back. Three straight kills from McHugh, followed by two more from the freshman, completed a 7-2 closing stretch. The WolfPack tallied 14 more kills and hit .355 in the set.



For the match, they finished with 49 kills and a .361 efficiency, as well as 11 aces, 7.0 blocks, and 38 digs.

Three players reached double-figures in kills, led by Gorum's 14 kills and .722 hitting percentage over the final three sets for the transfer from the University of Wisconsin. McHugh, an outside hitter/middle blocker from Spring Grove, Minnesota, tallied a dozen kill at a .417 clip, and had two blocks and an ace. And sophomore Tyra Anderson posted ten kills on 32 swings for a .219 percentage.

Schaefer, a second year setter, racked up 47 assists and a team-high five aces.

Defensively, Venne, a Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, native, stood tall with three blocks, to go along with a pair of aces. And Weisensel tracked down 15 digs and had three aces as the libero.

Up Next:

Madison College (15-4) returns to the weekend tournament schedule on Friday and Saturday, September 29-30 with the Parkland College Tournament in Champaign, Illinois. The WolfPack will take on #6 Kirkwood Community College (17-4) and #10 Lincoln Land Community College (17-4) on the opening day at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., respectively. They return Saturday to battle #20 Des Moines Area Community College (15-4) at 1:00 p.m. and #4 Heartland Community College (17-3) at 3:00 p.m.

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