IRONWOOD, Mich. – The Milwaukee Area Technical College women's volleyball team opened the 2025-26 season in dominant fashion, rolling to a perfect 4-0 record at the Gogebic Invitational this past Friday and Saturday.
The Stormers, ranked No. 23 in the NJCAA preseason poll, dropped zero sets across the two-day event, sweeping Minnesota North College–Itasca (25-14, 25-7, 25-23), Gogebic Community College (25-21, 25-14, 25-13), Minnesota North College–Vermilion (25-11, 25-11, 25-12) and Dakota County Technical College (25-9, 25-17, 25-16).
Freshman setter
Hope Martens set the tone with 52 assists across the tournament, including 17 against Gogebic and 15 in the opener against Itasca. Defensive anchor
Kimberly Busateri, the reigning Team Defensive MVP, collected a combined 55 digs to steady the back row.
Offensively, MATC spread the wealth.
Savannah Raymer,
Allison Chapman, Natalie Farrugia,
Annika Romine and
Kayleah Laughlin each had matches pacing the attack, with Laughlin's 10-kill, .529 hitting performance against Vermilion standing out.
The Stormers are looking to build on last year's historic run to their first NJCAA Region 4 (Midwest A District) championship, and head coach
Shel DeLisle said the opening weekend was a strong step in that direction.
"This weekend was a great start to the season," DeLisle said. "Michigan is beautiful, and we had a chance to work on being together off the court. We had a couple of goals going in: start as a team and finish as a team, play our speed and our game, and get everyone on the court to see what they could do. We hit our goals, had a great time, and going 4-0 was the icing on the cake."
UP NEXT
MATC (4-0) returns to action Monday, Aug. 25, at the Western Technical College Tri in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where it will face Iowa Lakes Community College at 3 p.m. and Western Technical College at 5 p.m.
