The Taylor University women’s volleyball team jumped out to a quick start and never looked back as they defeated the Goshen College women in straight sets this past Saturday in Odle Arena.
The final tally of the afternoon displayed a dominant performance by the host Trojans (9-8, 6-3 Crossroads League) with set scores of 25-6, 25-18, 25-20.Early on, the Trojans racked up 17 kills, an ace, three blocks and an astounding 0.682 hitting percentage to start the afternoon. In the second set, the Leafs found some life by taking the first two points before falling to an 11-7 deficit.
Goshen quickly turned things around by use of various Taylor errors and an assortment of kills from senior Lexa Magnuson, junior Christy Swartzendruber and first-year Darienne Maust to battle back to a 15-14 lead. But the Trojans would not go away as they went on a 10-2 run to close out the set.
The third set was more of the same as things remained back and forth early, but once again the Trojans’ hitting numbers overpowered the Leafs.
Taylor finished the afternoon hitting 0.224 percent to the Leafs’ 0.009 percent. The Trojans also racked up 47 kills to the Leafs’ 20 and 68 digs to the opposing 44. The two teams finished even in both attack errors and blocks with the two teams totaling 21 errors and one block apiece.
Swartendruber was the spark for Goshen, leading the attack with six kills and 11 digs. Ally Roehr, first-year, added an ace for Goshen and a team-high 14 assists.
With the loss, the Leafs drop to fifth place at 4-4 in the Crossroads League. The Leafs returned to the court Wednesday evening when they hosted Huntington University. The game was completed after deadline.
