MADISON, Wis. — A five-set loss to Carl Sandburg College set the tone for a tough Friday afternoon for the Milwaukee Area Technical College women's volleyball team, which followed with a straight-set loss to Sauk Valley Community College at the Madison College Quad.

The two defeats away from home dropped the Stormers to 16-10 overall and 7-5 in neutral-site matches while also extending their losing streak to three matches. After dropping the opening set to Carl Sandburg, MATC won the second and third to take a 2-1 lead, but lost the fourth set 25-22 and the fifth 16-14. Against Sauk Valley, the Stormers lost the opener 25-23 and never recovered, falling 25-18 and 25-17 in the final two sets.

Carl Sandburg 3, Stormers 2 (19-25, 25-19, 25-23, 22-25, 14-16)

MATC's two wins came by a combined eight points, and the margin for error stayed thin the rest of the way. Carl Sandburg answered in the fourth set and held on in a decisive fifth-set tiebreaker that came down to the final points.

"We were right there for most of the match," Stormers head coach Shel DeLisle said of her team against Carl Sandburg. "Unforced errors are what defeats us in close matches. We work on this at practice, but seem to struggle translating the work into match play."

Kayleah Laughlin once again paced the Stormers with a double-double, recording 18 kills and 11 digs while hitting a team-best .304 and adding a block assist. Aubrey Schwent anchored the back row with 22 digs, and team captain Hope Martens directed the offense with 28 assists.

Natalia Farrugia contributed nine kills, 16 digs, one solo block and three block assists. At the net, Dorothy Hoagland led the team with 3.5 total blocks (one solo, five assisted) and added four kills and an ace. Ella Azbel and Onyx Burdette each served two aces.

Sauk Valley 3, Stormers 0 (23-25, 18-25, 17-25)

MATC stayed within two points of Sauk Valley in the opening set, but the Stormers could not sustain that pace in the second and third.

"I thought we would give them a run for their money after the first set, but I guess we couldn't shake off the loss before," DeLisle said of her team's effort against Sauk Valley. "We struggled to put together an offense in a few rotations and that took us out of the match. Sauk Valley has a strong hitter on the outside and we did a great job in set 1 shutting her down and forcing them to tip. I guess we just ran out of gas when it came to finishing."

The Stormers spread the offense around, with five players recording at least four kills. Farrugia and Azbel shared the team lead with six apiece, and Farrugia hit .667 without an error. Bella Bloom and Annika Romine each added five kills, and Laughlin had four.

Martens again led the offense, finishing with 18 assists. Burdette led the defense with eight digs, followed by Azbel with seven. At the net, Romine had a team-high 1.5 total blocks, while Farrugia and Laughlin each had one.

DeLisle pointed to unforced errors against Carl Sandburg and finishing against Sauk Valley as the areas to clean up before the Stormers hit the road again.

UP NEXT

MATC (16-10) will travel to Rock Valley at 6 p.m. Wednesday.