The Joliet Junior College women's volleyball team played six matches over three days as the Wolves participated in The Opening Weekend tournament in Rockford, Ill. over the weekend. The Wolves went 1-5 for the weekend.

On Friday, the Wolves lost their first two games of the season. The first was a 3-1 loss against John wood Community College (22-25; 16-25; 28-26; 13-25) and the second a 3-2 loss to Iowa Lakes Community College (12-25; 25-22; 25-23; 15-25; 12-15).

"A lot of growth from match to match and we tinkered with lineups a lot to see what worked, but I think we found something in our match against Iowa Lakes," Wolves coach Tom Welsh said following Friday's matches.

Saturday saw the Wolves drop another pair, the first a 3-1 loss to Montcalm Community College (22-25;  25-21; 19-25; 17-25) and then a 3-0 loss to Rend Lake College (23-25; 18-25; 21-25)

"Another day of learning for our freshman," Welsh said. "Had a big lead in the first set against Rend Lake but faced some adversity and fell apart. Every school we have faced has been a NJCAA D2 school, but we are competing with each one of them."

Last season, the Wolves finished The Opening Weekend tournament with a 2-4 record. Unfortunately, they weren't able to match it but did come away with a victory to end the long weekend. In the first game on Sunday, the Wolves lost to Lincoln Land Community College, 3-0 (20-25; 14-25; 11-25). Against Glen Oaks Community College, the Wolves found success as they won, 3-1 (17-25; 25-14; 25-20; 25-13). 

"In our last match of the weekend, the team put everything together that they were working on all weekend," Welsh said. "After a sluggish first set against Glen Oaks, we were successful at all phases. We limited our mistakes and the scores and stats show that. A lot to learn from this weekend and we are excited for the challenge ahead to get back to .500 and push forward the rest of the season."

The long weekend allowed a chance for various student-athletes to standout.

Sophomore captain and middle hitter Monika Jurek recorded 40 kills and 23 total blocks on the weekend while sophomore Emily Lindemann had 37 kills. Sophomore Natalie Martinez finished with 59 digs.

Freshman Aubrey Phillips finished with 30 kills and 20 total blocks. Haylee Dunne had 100 assists.

The Wolves are in action again Thursday, August 29 when they travel to Olive-Harvey College.