Two-thirds of the way through their season, the 2-19 women’s volleyball team has had to look at things other than winning percentage to keep their spirits up. 

“We are growing and getting better,” said Kourtney Crawford, head coach of the women’s volleyball team. “I think that the girls are working hard and it shows at moments, but they truly are putting in the effort.”

The team has not recorded a win since Sept. 3, when they beat Montreat College 3-0. With just 13 games left in their season, they are looking to hit the reset button.

“We’ve started to [reset] this week,” Crawford said. “We have had some good talks and good practices. We know what it takes to win, we just need to implement it.”

Crawford also pointed out other bright spots in Sadie Brennemen, Emily Lynch, and the freshmen as a whole.

“The freshmen are great,” Crawford said. “They’re doing a great job of doing their specific jobs, we just need to clean it up as a whole.”

The team has been swept by all eight of their conference opponents so far, including a loss to No. 13 Taylor University last night. They look ahead now to Friday, where they take on the Bethel University Pilots in a US Highway 20 Cup matchup. 

“The game plan is to take care of our side,” Crawford said about the upcoming matchup. “Slow down their middle hitters and have fun. When we play with energy, we do much better.”

In other GC sports news, the men’s soccer team took on the Cougars of Mount Vernon Nazarene University last night at home. 

In the first four minutes of the second half, the Leafs scored twice to take a 3-1 lead, but conceded two goals — including one in the last four minutes — to end in a 3-3 draw. 

Still winless on the year, the team is now 0-7-3. They face the Cougars from the University of St. Francis at home on Saturday. One week later, they host Bethel University for Goshen’s homecoming game.

After both tennis teams bowed out of the Crossroads League tournament in the first round to IWU, cross country has been the lone bright spot in the month of September for GC. Both the men’s and the women’s teams won the IU Kokomo Invitational on Sept. 17, the first time both teams won a meet simultaneously since 1996. Drew Hogan finished first overall for the men’s team, and Naomi Ross Richer did the same for the women. 

The teams now look ahead to Saturday, where they head down to Louisville, Kentucky for the Live in Lou Classic. The men’s team is currently receiving votes in the NAIA coaches’ poll.