As September rolls on, the Madison College volleyball team recently competed in its third and final weekend tournament of the season.

Madison College finished with a 3-1 record in the Toppers Pizza Volleyball Invitational in Rochester, Minn., on Sept. 15-16.

The WolfPack won the first three matches of the weekend, but couldn’t get the last win for the sweep. The team beat Des Moines Area Community College (3-2), Northland Community and Technical College (3-0), and Central Lakes College-Brainerd (3-2). But Bethel University’s JV team shut them down, 3-0.

“I thought that the weekend tournament went really well,” said WolfPack coach Ashley Davis. “We kind of ran out of gas for the last match. In general, we go to that tournament to see really good competition. We did what we needed to up there as well.”

The next game was a clash of the Titans with No. 1 ranked Harper College coming to H. Douglas Redsten Gymnasium to play No. 2 ranked Madison College on Sept. 19.

Harper College looked like the clear No. 1, taking the first two sets, 25-16 and 25-18. The WolfPack would find their game in the third set, winning 25-18. But in a tightly contested fourth set, Harper College was just too much, winning 25-22 to take the match.

The loss to Harper College marked the first time all season the WolfPack lost two games in a row.

“It’s a tough loss for us. We didn’t play our best volleyball in the first two sets and then finally started to play Madison (College) volleyball in the second two sets,” Davis said.
“I’m looking at it as a lesson learned, and we keep improving and keep getting better as the season goes on.”

A quick turn around with a game against Rock Valley College Golden Eagles two days later, would be another tough match up.

“Harper and Rock Valley are always our two biggest rivals throughout the season and its always good volleyball when we play those two teams,” Davis said.

The game against the Golden Eagles started out similarly, as the WolfPack again fell behind two sets to none. This time, though, the WolfPack battled back and took the win.

“I’m very proud of my girls coming back 0-2 … I told the girls that it’s the biggest character win all season,” Davis said.

Davis’s first season as head coach is now entering the second half and her coaching style is beginning to come through – not yelling from the bench but letting the players take it upon themselves to work it out on the court.

“I’ve never been a yeller… I like for the girls to learn how to get themselves out of a hole and see how they can pick themselves up,” Davis said.

“A lot of times it’s figuring out what adjustments do I need to make, and if they can figure that out before coach tells them they’re going to be that much more successful out on the floor.”

With no more weekend tournaments, the WolfPack can focus on conference opponents as they try to win another conference championship. Madison College has an away game Sept. 28 at College of DuPage followed by two home matches Oct. 3 against Triton College and Oct. 5 against Elgin Community College. The team is 16-5 overall and 5-1 in conference play.