MADISON, WISC.  The Madison College Volleyball Tournament produced some tremendous volleyball on Friday and Saturday inside H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium, and the host WolfPack finished with a 2-2 record as they improved their win streak to nine straight wins before taking a pair of hard-fought losses against ranked opponents on the final day. Madison College, ranked #21 in the NJCAA Division II Poll, opened with a 3-2 decision over Lincoln Land Community College and a sweep of Spoon River College in three sets. Saturday brought a nail-biting 3-2 loss against #14 Illinois Central College and a hotly contested 3-1 setback against #7 Iowa Central Community College.

Match #1: #21 Madison College 3, Lincoln Land Community College 2 (25-22, 24-26, 25-22, 20-25, 15-8)

Madison College began to separate from the Loggers midway through the opening set, using back-to-back kills from sophomore Courtney Gorum to take an 18-15 lead. Lincoln Land Community College (10-8) rallied back to tie the set at 20-20 until consecutive aces by freshman Sammy Johnson propelled the Pack to four of the final five points. Set two saw the home team trailing 16-9 and using a timeout to re-gather themselves before roaring back to a 20-20 tie on an Amber Horn block. Despite having set point at 24-22, the Pack were unable to shut the door as LLCC registered four straight points to even the match at a set apiece.

The Loggers again built a four-point advantage in the third set, forcing coach Mallory Stone and the WolfPack into a timeout down 17-13. A powerful Gorum kill out of the TO ignited a quick surge that tied the score at 20-20. Over the final seven points, freshman Bella Vitaioli delivered two key kills and fellow first year MaKayla Weisner came through with a block en route to a three-point set victory. The fourth set belonged to Lincoln Land, who used a 5-0 run to break a 7-7 tie and eventually led by as much as ten before using the 25-20 decision to force a decisive fifth set. 

In just their second five-set match of the season, Madison College raced to a 6-1 advantage thanks to a trio of Gorum aces; however, the Loggers did not quit and eventually pulled within a point at 9-8. Two more aces from Vitaioli set the Pack up for match point, and Gorum finished it off with another big swing.

Gorum, a 6'3" outside hitter/middle blocker, tied a season-best with 23 kills on 44 attempts and hit .341 for the match. She also added 15 digs for her second double-double of 2024. The Chesapeake, Virginia, native, finished with three aces and two blocks.

Addyson McHugh, a sophomore outside/right side hitter, tallied ten kills, and Vitaioli added nine kills, to go along with 14 digs and a team-high five aces. 

Setters Brooke Anderson and Sammy Johnson shared the workload with 23 and 21 assists, respectively, and established new season-high's for both players. Johnson also contributed a pair of aces.

Defensively, first year libero Cora Webster collected a season-high 27 digs, and Weisner, an outside/right side hitter from Mosinee, Wisconsin, came through with three blocks.

For the match, Madison College had 53 kills and a .191 attack percentage, highlighted by 16 kills and a .400 efficiency in the third set. They also added 11 aces, eight blocks, and 76 digs.

The win is the first in five all-time matches against the Loggers.

Match #2: #21 Madison College 3, Spoon River College 0 (25-21, 25-10, 25-20)

The day's second match allowed the WolfPack to flex some muscle as they averaged 14.0 kills per set and hit .257 with 11 aces, three blocks, and 69 digs.

Courtney Gorum's block late in the first set broke a 19-19 tie and triggered a 6-2 closing stretch for Madison College, ending with a Faith Radecke ace to take a one-set lead. Bella Vitaioli served up three consecutive aces early in the second set as the Pack raced to a 12-4 lead, and to more aces from Radecke forced a Spoon River College (11-13) timeout down 17-9. The aces kept coming as Cora Webster added back-to-back points as part of an 8-0 run to claim the set in convincing fashion. The third set came down to the final six points, all of which were won by the WolfPack. After the Snappers rallied to take a 20-19 lead despite trailing by seven earlier in the set, Madison College took advantage of kills from Courtney Gorum and Brooke Anderson to win by five.

Gorum again led the offensive attack with 18 kills and an impressive .472 hitting efficiency. Addyson McHugh terminated 11 of her 28 attack attempts and hit at a .250 clip. The duo also combined for all three of team's blocks, led by two from Gorum.

Sammy Johnson, a first year setter from Wausau, Wisconsin, produced 20 assists, followed by 18 helpers from Booke Anderson. Johnson picked up her first career double-double with 11 digs.

At the service line, Webster, Radecke, and Vitaioli each had three aces, while Anderson yielded two. 

And defensively, Webster, a former Waunakee HS athlete, produced 21 digs to help the Pack improve to 2-0 all-time against Spoon River College.


Match #3: #14 Illinois Central College 3, #21 Madison College 2 (21-25, 25-16, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10)

In the first of two straight matches against ranked opponents, the WolfPack found themselves down 5-0 in a hurry. They regrouped during a timeout and eventually tied the opening set at 8-8 on a MaKayla Weisner kill. A 5-0 run on the serve of Courtney Gorum eventually put the home team up 18-14; however, Illinois Central College (13-6) answered with four straight to tie the score. The set closed with four consecutive Madison College points, including a Gorum kill, a Bella Vitaioli ace, and an Amber Horn block to make it 25-21. The Cougars controlled much of the second set, breaking an 8-8 tie with four straight points to ignite a bigger 17-8 run to even the match at one set each.

Down 15-14 in the third set, the WolfPack found momentum with an Addyson McHugh kill, another Horn block, and an ace from Sammy Johnson that prompted a timeout with the score favoring the home team at 17-15. The surge continued with Madison College ultimately winning 11 of the final 14 points. Unable to close out the match in four after ICC went on a 13-6 run to force the Pack into their second five-set match of the tournament. The Cougars led nearly the entirety of the final set, using a pair of late three-point runs to pull away for the match win and even the all-time series at one win each.

Madison College struggled to get their offense on track throughout the match, averaging just 8.2 kills per set and hitting at a .153 clip as the teams combined for 49 total hitting errors. The WolfPack took full advantage of ten aces and ten blocks to keep themselves in the match.

Gorum and McHugh led the offensive attack with 12 and ten kills, respectively. Gorum also added 19 digs for her third double-double. Brooke Anderson registered her second career double-double with 21 assists and a dozen digs, while fellow setter Sammy Johnson was right behind with 18 assists and nine digs. Libero Cora Webster collected a team-leading 20 digs, and joined Anderson, Gorum and Vitaioli in a group of players with two aces. Horn, a second year from New Glarus, Wisconsin, had four of the team's ten blocks.

Match #4: #7 Iowa Central Community College 3, #21 Madison College 1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-17, 26-24)

The opening set of the weekend's final match featured five ties and three lead changes until Iowa Central Community College (15-3) put together a late 4-0 run to break an 18-18 tie before hanging on for a two-point win. The Tritons jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the second set and appeared primed to run away with it, until Madison College found a grove rattled off ten consecutive points to take a 14-10 lead on an Amber Horn block and forced ICCC into a timeout. Thought Iowa Central was able to respond with a 6-0 surge to regain the lead, sophomore Faith Radecke served them back in front for good with two aces over a three-point span. Freshman Bella Vitaioli closed the set win with a kill.

Even at one set each, the Tritons took a 4-3 lead early in the fourth set and never looked back en route to an eight-point set win. The teams went back-and-forth during an intense fourth set that saw ICCC leading 21-20 late when Courtney Gorum smashed another kill to tie the score. Following a Tritons kill to regain the lead, the WolfPack began feeding sophomore Addyson McHugh the ball, and she responded with three consecutive kills to give the home team set point at 24-22. Unfortunately, Madison College was unable to close it out and force the fifth set as a pair of hitting errors and a blocking error contributed to a four-point Iowa Central rally for the match. 

The WolfPack amassed 42 kills, including double-digit kills in three of the four sets, as well as eight aces, nine blocks, and a season-best 92 digs.

Gorum and McHugh tied for team-high honors with a dozen kills each, while Vitaioli was third with nine kills. Gorum and Vitaioli recorded double-doubles with 20 and 11 digs, respectively. Vitaioli, a Milton, Wisconsin, native, recorded her fourth match this season with five aces or more.

Setter Brooke Anderson also finished with a double-double, racking up 22 assists and 12 digs. Sammy Johnson added 17 assists and nine digs. 

Freshman MaKayla Weisner produced a season-high four blocks, to go along with four kills, while Horn's three blocks give her five matches with at least that many. Cora Webster was tops with 25 digs as she reached the 20-dig plateau for the fourth consecutive match.

Iowa Central Community College leads the all-time series by a 3-2 tally.

Up Next:

Madison College (10-4) remains home for its first single match day of the season when in-state rival Milwaukee Area Technical College (15-3) visits H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 24. The WolfPack have won 41 straight matches over the Stormers dating back to 2003, with the all-time series at 95-29-3 since 1977. First serve is at 6:00 p.m. and the match will be streamed live at MadisonCollege.tv.

Tuesday will be Youth Night, with free admission to any youth players wearing their team's volleyball uniform or a Madison College volleyball camp t-shirt.

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