ROCKFORD, ILL. - The first matches of the 2024 season for the Madison College women's volleyball team saw mixed results with two wins and two losses at the Opening Weekend Tournament inside UW Health Sports Factory. The WolfPack, who opened the season ranked #21 in the NJCAA Division II Poll, began play with a three-set sweep of Marian University Ancilla (IN) before dropping an epic five-setter against Florida State College at Jacksonville on Friday. Saturday opened with a loss in three sets to Kansas City Kansas Community College, but ended with a 3-1 victory over Macomb Community College (MI).

Match #1: #21 Madison College 3, Marian University Ancilla 0 (25-14, 25-16. 25-13)

The first match of the season went as well as the WolfPack could have hoped with a win in three set and an average margin of victory of 10.6. Madison College posted a very efficient .533 attack percentage in the opening set with nine kills and just one error. They finished with 11 kills in the second set, and then racked up 18 kills and a .417 hitting efficiency to close out the match. Meanwhile, the Pack defense limited the Chargers to 11 total kills and a -.082 percentage. Additionally, Madison College held an 8-1 lead in aces and a 6-3 edge in total blocks.

Freshman MaKayla Weisner, an outside hitter/right side hitter from Mosinee, Wisconsin, was tops with 14 kills and a .500 efficiency in her collegiate debut. Sophomore Amber Horn, a New Glarus, Wisconsin, native, tallied eight kills, hit at a .700 clip, and had block solos.

Brooke Anderson recorded 19 assists in her first match after the Plain, Wisconsin, product starred on the WolfPack softball team last spring. Freshman Tricia Klum was right behind with 16 assists. 

First year OH/RS Bella Vitaioli demonstrated her ability to dominate from the service line with four aces, and libero MacKenzie Thom, a sophomore from Jefferson, Wisconsin, picked up 19 digs.

Madison College is now 5-0 all-time against Marian University Ancilla, with Friday's match marking the first since four meetings between 2008 and 2012.

Match #2: Florida State College at Jacksonville 3, #21 Madison College 2 (25-23, 26-24, 22-25, 28-30, 16-14)

The match of the entire OWT event may have been the five-set slugfest between the WolfPack and Florida State College at Jacksonville on Friday afternoon. After the Manta Rays eeked out sets wins of 25-23 and 26-24, the latter of which required a late FSCJ rally, Madison College answered with a late rally of their own to steal set three, which would be the only set of the match not to be decided by the minimum two points. The fourth set saw the Pack overcome five match points for FSCJ to win in extra points and force a fifth set. The Manta Rays got out to a fast start with a 9-2 lead; however, the WolfPack battled back and had a match point opportunity up 14-13. The next three points all went to FSCJ for the match win.

Madison College posted eight kills in the first, third, and fifth sets, while smashing 11 in the second set and 17 in the third. Their 52 kills were two better than FSCJ, which owned a 16-12 edge in aces for the match. Both teams had six blocks and combined for 167 digs.

Sophomore Addyson McHugh and freshman Bella Vitaioli tied for team-high honors with 18 kills. McHugh, a Spring Grove, Minnesota, native with a career-high 19 kills in a match set last year, hit .173 on 52 swings and also added three aces. Vitaioli racked up 50 attack attempts and hit at a .260 clip. The native of Milton, Wisconsin, led the WolfPack service game with a season-best five aces, and posted a double-double with 13 digs.

Setter Tricia Klum, who hails from Chaseburg, Wisconsin, established a career-high with 45 assists as part of a double-double with 11 digs. Libero MacKenzie Thom led the defense with 21 digs as four different players reached double-figure digs. Amber Horn's four blocks was a team-high.



Match #3: Kansas City Kansas Community College 3, #21 Madison College 0 (25-21, 25-13. 25-22)

An early wake up call following Friday's marathon finale was not what WolfPack ordered; however, it is what they attempted to overcome with Saturday's first match against Kanas City Kansas Community College. The Blue Devils took all three sets from the WolfPack, who were unable to register more than seven kills in a single set. Madison College finished with 18 kills and 14 attack errors, compared to 37 kills and 19 errors for the KCKCC. Additionally, KCKCC took advantage of a 12-7 lead in aces. 

Addyson McHugh and Bella Vitaioli again tied for team-high honors with five kills. Tricia Klum reached ten assists, with freshman Sammy Johnson right behind with eight. MacKenzie Thom served up three aces.

Defensively, Klum and Thom both finished with eight digs, and Amber Horn was tops with a trio of blocks.

Match #4: #21 Madison College 3, Macomb Community College 1 (25-17, 25-13, 21-25, 25-15)

The OWT finale for Madison College saw the WolfPack race out to a two-sets-to-none lead before the Monarchs recovered to force a fourth set, which the Pack won by ten. The WolfPack racked up 39 kills, including a dozen each in the second and fourth sets. The second set also saw coach Mallory Stone's squad hit at a .423 attack percentage. 

The Pack also took full advantage of the Monarchs struggling serve receive, piling up a potential school-record 21 aces, while also denying nine attacks via blocks.

Addyson McHugh was the only player to reach double-figures in kills with a team-high 17 with a .278 hitting efficiency. She also had three aces.

MacKenzie Thom became the 13th player in program history to record eight or more aces in a single match, setting a new career-high. Sammy Johnson was right behind with a career-best six aces, while Tricia Klum matched McHugh with three.

Klum amasses 20 assists, with Johnson owning 14 assists.

Kate Howe, a native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, led the block party with four rejections, followed by three from Amber Horn. The back end of the defensive effort finished with 16 digs for Thom and 11 by Vitaioli.

Madison College was without the services of returning All-Region 4 outside hitter/middle blocker Courtney Gorum for the entirety of the weekend.

Up Next:

Madison College (2-2) will host the first of back-to-back home triangulars on Wednesday, August 28 against in-state and Region 4 foes, Western Technical College (2-2) and Blackhawk Technical College (0-4). The WolfPack is 58-40-9 all-time against the Cavaliers dating back to 1980, while the match with the Talons will mark the first against the newest Region 4 member from nearby Janesville, Wisconsin. Opening serve against WTC is set for 3:00 p.m., with the finale against BTC slated for 7:00 p.m. All three matches inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium will stream live at MadisonCollege.tv.

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