In a system and method for controlling the length of a discrete segment of an elastic web, a wound off tension of the web is determined during unwinding from a wound roll. The unwound web is delivered to a processing station while being maintained in tension. A discrete segment of the web is transported away from the processing station for at least a time t wherein the discrete segment decreases in length to a recovered length. The recovered length is predicted based at least in part on the wound off tension and in response to the predicted recovered length, at least one of the following is controlled: 1) the speed at which the web is delivered to the processing station, 2) the tension in the continuous web as it is delivered to the processing station, and 3) the length of the discrete segment at the processing station.
