Published for Midwest Magic fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 24, 2026
🏐 Midwest Magic Fans — Your North Cup Crown Is Waiting!
A perfect weekend in Aurora. Two days, one trophy and not a single set dropped — the Magic stormed the 2026 North Divisional Cup and left with the crown, with tournament MVP Kristi Doherty running the show in the number 4. Wear the gradient and ride with the champions.
The Club
Midwest Magic are Chicago’s women’s team in the Volleyball League of America — a Central Division, Tier 2 side with one of the most recognizable looks in the league: a short-sleeve jersey that melts from light blue through lavender into pink, a huge white number on the front, black bottoms, and the purple-and-blue “MM” monogram with a star riding on the chest. The one player in black is the libero — the contrast kit that anchors the back row. The Magic keep a low profile off the court (their league roster is the one the VLA itself publishes on the club’s team page), but on it they have been quietly stacking proof: a run to the semifinals at the 2025 VLA Cup, and then, in March 2026, the weekend that announced them — the North Divisional Cup title in Aurora, Illinois, won without dropping a single set across two days. Searching for a Midwest Magic jersey, the latest Magic schedule or Magic tickets? Start with the question Chicago asks all winter: when do the Magic play?
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Last Season (2026): The Perfect Weekend in Aurora
Some titles are ground out. This one was a sweep from start to finish. At the North Divisional Cup on March 7–8, 2026, in Aurora, Illinois, Midwest Magic ran the table across two days without dropping a single set — the league’s own champions post told the rest of the VLA that “the bar just got raised.” The weekend’s receipts are on the record: a scoreboard captured during the run reads Embers W 19, Magic 25 — a 25–19 set win over Madison Embers W on the way to the trophy. And when the honors were handed out, Magic names filled the card: Kristi Doherty was named tournament MVP, and Doherty, Kimi Hohl, Michal Willman and Shannon Coughlin all landed on the All-Tournament team. It was the breakthrough the club had been building toward since the run to the semifinals at the 2025 VLA Cup the spring before — proof, in consecutive springs, that the Magic belong in the VLA’s final weekends. A perfect cup weekend and a crown: that is the standard the roster now defends.
Best Players Right Now
Nine names — that is the whole published story. The roster below is the one the VLA itself lists for Midwest Magic, and it is the core that produced a VLA Cup semifinal run and a perfect North Divisional Cup weekend in back-to-back springs. It is a short sheet with an outsized hit rate: the MVP of the tournament just won, the MVP of the 2024 VLA Cup, and an All-Tournament libero. Meet the nine.
Kristi Doherty, Setter / Opposite (#4) — The MVP of the 2026 North Divisional Cup and the engine of the perfect weekend. Doherty runs the offense and can terminate herself — the first name on the league-published roster and the face of the title run.
Michal Willman, Outside Hitter (#8) — An All-Tournament pick at the 2026 North Cup, Willman’s number 8 is the one frozen in the club’s match photography — the gradient jersey, mid-celebration, in the middle of everything Magic do on the left side.
Kimi Hohl, Libero (#69) — The back-row anchor in the solid black libero kit, and an All-Tournament selection at the 2026 North Cup. Long-time Magic fans will remember her listed as Kimi Sikora in the league’s 2024 roster publications — same libero, same impossible number 69, now under the Hohl name.
Meg Wolowicz, Middle Blocker (#20) — The veteran honor on this roster: Wolowicz was named MVP of the 2024 VLA Cup, the league’s biggest weekend, and still patrols the middle in the number 20.
Rachel Aumann (#5) — Part of the league-published core that carried Magic to the North Cup crown — a name on the roster sheet of the perfect weekend in Aurora.
Amy Angelos (#9) — Another member of the published nine who wore the gradient through the title run — depth that never had to drop a set all weekend.
Hannah Murdock (#13) — On the league-published roster for the championship core; the number 13 in the blue-to-pink gradient.
Taylor Bruhl (#14) — One half of the roster’s Taylor tandem, Bruhl wears the 14 for a Magic side whose strength is how far down the sheet the quality runs.
Taylor Fricano (#16) — The second Taylor on the published roster, in the number 16 — completing a nine-player core that the VLA itself publishes for the North Cup champions.
Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
The weekend nobody took a set. Divisional cups are supposed to be chaos — neutral floors, back-to-back matches, tired legs by Sunday. The Magic turned Aurora into a procession instead: two days, a trophy photo with seven players in the gradient around the cup, and a scoresheet with zero sets in the loss column. The league’s verdict was blunt: the bar in the VLA just got raised. Every Central Division weekend since has been measured against it.
The MVP wearing number 4. Setter-opposites live a double life — run the offense one rotation, finish it the next. Kristi Doherty did both all weekend in Aurora and walked away as the North Divisional Cup’s Most Valuable Player, the individual honor on top of the team crown. On a roster the league publishes top to bottom, hers is the name at the top — and the number 4 is the shirt the run will always be remembered in.
The libero in black. Scan any Magic team photo and one shirt stands out: solid black among the blue and pink. That is Kimi Hohl, the libero — number 69, pink-and-white print, holding the defense together while the gradient attacks. She made the All-Tournament team in Aurora, and she has been Magic’s constant through both springs — the 2025 VLA Cup semifinal run and the 2026 crown alike.
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Hohl’s black libero look — the contrast kit with the pink-and-white 69.
This Season (2027): Defending the Crown
Champions do not get a quiet winter, and the Magic will not want one. The VLA’s 2027 season opens in January 2027, and the league-wide picture gets bigger the same month: a new Women’s Tier 1 — a 12-team top flight — debuts across the VLA. Midwest Magic’s own 2027 tier assignment has not been published yet, so that is a storyline to watch rather than a confirmed berth — but a team that just won a divisional cup without dropping a set, a year after reaching the VLA Cup semifinals, has every reason to test itself against the strongest field the league can offer. The core is there on paper: the league-published nine — Doherty, Aumann, Willman, Angelos, Murdock, Bruhl, Fricano, Wolowicz and Hohl — is the group that produced the perfect weekend, and every indication is that the title defense runs through them. Exact fixtures arrive when the VLA publishes its 2027 schedule. What is already certain is the identity every opponent will scout: the gradient jerseys, Doherty conducting the offense from the number 4, Willman on the left pin, Wolowicz guarding the net and Hohl — unmistakable in black — cleaning up everything behind them. Until then, the crown sits in Chicago — and the gradient is not giving it back quietly.
Mark Your Calendar: The Road Ahead
Circle the dates ahead, Magic fans — a new season and a title defense — then relive the weekend the crown came home:
- January 2027 — The 2027 VLA season opens: League play resumes and the Women’s Tier 1 debuts league-wide. The Magic’s exact fixtures and tier assignment will be confirmed when the VLA publishes its schedule.
- Relive it — March 7–8, 2026, the perfect weekend: The North Divisional Cup in Aurora, Illinois — champions without dropping a set, Kristi Doherty named tournament MVP, and four Magic players on the All-Tournament team.
- Relive it — the 25–19 statement set: The scoreboard from the North Cup run, Embers W 19, Magic 25 — one frame that summed up the whole weekend.
- Relive it — May 2025, the VLA Cup semifinal run: The spring before the crown, when the Magic played their way into the final four of the league’s biggest weekend and announced what was coming.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Madison Embers W — the North Cup measuring stick. The one opponent the Magic are verifiably tied to on the record: during the undefeated North Divisional Cup run in Aurora, a scoreboard froze the story at Embers W 19, Magic 25. One documented set is not a feud yet — but every North weekend now starts with the champions and the team they beat on the way up. The rematch writes itself.
2. The North Divisional Cup field — the crown everyone wants. Magic’s title made the divisional cup itself their stage: they hold the trophy, the perfect record and the target on their backs. Every North program that watched seven players in gradient jerseys lift the cup in Aurora now circles the same March weekend — not for the Magic’s sake, but because beating the champions is the fastest way to become them.
3. The VLA Cup final four — unfinished business. The 2025 VLA Cup semifinal run ended one win short of the final, and it still frames every Magic ambition. No single opponent owns that story — the hurdle itself does. The 2026 North Cup crown says this roster learned how to finish a weekend. The next war is proving it on the league’s biggest stage.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When do Midwest Magic play next?
The 2027 VLA season opens in January 2027, and the league’s new Women’s Tier 1 debuts the same month. Midwest Magic’s exact fixtures and tier assignment will be confirmed when the VLA publishes its 2027 schedule.
Where do Midwest Magic play?
Midwest Magic are a Chicago, Illinois club playing in the VLA’s Central Division. Their biggest documented weekend came close to home: the 2026 North Divisional Cup in Aurora, Illinois, where they won the title without dropping a set.
Who are Midwest Magic’s star players?
Setter/opposite Kristi Doherty (#4), the MVP of the 2026 North Divisional Cup; outside hitter Michal Willman (#8), an All-Tournament pick at the same cup; and libero Kimi Hohl (#69), who wears the black contrast kit. Their numbers come from the roster the league publishes for the club, and middle blocker Meg Wolowicz (#20) was MVP of the 2024 VLA Cup.
Where can I buy Midwest Magic fan gear?
Toxlay Sports offers fan-inspired apparel for Magic supporters — fan-designed gear made for real fans. Note that fan-inspired apparel is not official VLA licensed merchandise.
Sources: Volleyball League of America (usavla.com), Midwest Magic’s official club channels (@midwestmagicvla) and league announcements — schedules and rosters checked October 2026.
No sets dropped, one crown lifted — the Magic are just getting started.
