The men’s volleyball team travelled to ninth-ranked Aquinas College on Saturday, Jan. 25. Alexander Rabadzhiev led the team with 15 kills in their loss in three sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-23).
Four Maple Leafs, Rabadzhiev, Elias Baer, Nick Yutzy and Christian Rodriguez, tied with six digs a piece.Aquinas jumped out to early leads in the first two sets behind efficient hitting and a block that stymied the Maple Leaf hitters.
It was much of the same in the third set until Goshen had an eight point comeback late in the set, behind Baer’s serve, to get within one, 23-24. It wasn’t even, however, to force a fourth set as they came away empty-handed.
The Leafs bounced back on Monday with a win over Lincoln College.
Goshen never trailed in the first two sets, winning both by 25-11 and 25-14 scores. In the third set, they fell behind 3-2 after a service error, but went on a 23-9 run to dominate the end of the set and finish the match 3-0.
Rabadzhiev led the team once again with a game-high 16 kills, four aces and four blocks. Ian Fox had five kills and three blocks, and Andy Bennett followed with four kills and three blocks. Michael Wahl led with 20 assists and Baer had seven digs.
With the win, the Leafs move to 2-0 in Gunden Gymnasium.
Goshen out-blocked Lincoln seven to zero and served seven aces to the Lynx two. GC totaled an impressive 37 kills with just four errors.
The Maple Leafs move to 2-2 on the season and 1-1 in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play.
The Leafs will travel to Campbellsville University in Kentucky on Friday, where they will play the host sat 7 pm. On Saturday, they will play Life University at 11 a.m.
