JANESVILLE, Wis. – History and momentum went hand in hand Saturday for the Milwaukee Area Technical College women's volleyball team.

Behind a record-setting performance from sophomore Natalia Farrugia, the Stormers rolled through the UW-Whitewater Invitational with a pair of straight-set victories, defeating UWW-Rock County and Kennedy-King College without dropping a single set. MATC outscored its two opponents 150-87 on the day, improved to 14-7 overall and extended its winning streak to five matches.

The afternoon also marked another milestone for Farrugia, who became the program's all-time leader in career aces. The six-foot Mukwonago native surpassed the previous record of 153, set by Kim Busateri, and finished the day with 154 career aces.
With the two wins, MATC raised its overall winning percentage to .667 and continued its strong play in neutral-site competition, improving to 7-3 at such events.

"Back-to-back wins are always a good thing," Stormers head coach Shel DeLisle said. "We have a few players battling injuries; we were able to give them a rest and give others a chance to step up and they did."

The Stormers opened the tournament with a 25-19, 25-23, 25-13 victory over UW-Whitewater-Rock County. After claiming the first set, MATC survived a narrow second-set battle before separating itself in the finale to close out its sixth sweep of the season.

Ella Azbell led the way with six kills and matched Farrugia for the team lead with five aces. Annika Romine added five kills while hitting .444 and contributed three block assists. Onyx Burdette chipped in five kills, six assists and two aces. Hope Martens directed the offense with 17 assists, while Aubrey Schwent collected 10 digs from the back row. Bella Bloom anchored the net defense with one solo block and three block assists.

Farrugia finished the match with four kills and five aces, pushing her into the top spot in program history.

"Natalia is such a big part of our offense, so it is easy to overlook how tough she is as a server," DeLisle said. "Last season, she broke the record for aces in a season. Today, she broke the career aces record of 153 aces previously held by Kim Busateri. Natalia had six aces and is now at 154 career aces. She does a tremendous job for us on the court."

MATC completed its perfect day with a 25-18, 25-9, 25-5 sweep of Kennedy-King College. The opening set was competitive, but the Stormers steadily widened the gap and closed the afternoon by allowing just 14 combined points across the final two sets.

Freshman Dorothy Hoagland powered the attack with 12 kills while hitting .455, adding one ace and one block assist. Azbell added six kills on a .556 hitting percentage, along with three aces and a solo block. Farrugia contributed six kills, one ace and seven digs, while Burdette posted five kills on five attempts for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage and added six assists. Martens dished out 21 assists and served seven aces, and Schwent paced the defense with eight digs.

UP NEXT

MATC (14-7) will look to extend its winning streak to six matches when it travels to Joliet Junior College for a 6 p.m. match Wednesday in Joliet, Illinois.