Despite a shaky start to the season, Goshen College Women’s Volleyball swept the season series against St Francis, beating the Cougars 3-2 on Saturday in Fort Wayne

This was the first time that the Maple Leafs have swept the season series with the Cougars since 2015. It was also the first time they had a series sweep at all and a five-set win on the road since 2019.

Jeff Phillips, head coach of women’s volleyball, said that he was particularly satisfied about getting the series sweep this year. “It represents the chance to finish above a team in the conference and it also shows that the first win isn’t a fluke,” he said. “The improvements and growth are hard and it takes time, but we are moving in a good direction.”

Carmin Corey, a first-year biology major, smashed her season high kills of nine with 14 in the match against the Cougars.

This achievement earned her the title of Everence Student-Athelete of the Week. Her .309 hitting percentage, recorded 23 kills, six digs and four blocks also contributed to her award.

During the Saint Francis match, Sydney Stutsman tied her career high with six aces.

Addison Ross recorded 11 kills, Kassidy Faler got a season high of 19 digs and Kelsie Hankins recorded 17 assists and 10 digs for her second double-double of the week.

The team as a whole also recorded 11 aces, which is the most in a match since 2014.

All four of the pin hitters on the team this year are first-years.  Corey said this has created “a close bond” between them.

Phillips also commented that though having a majority of your pin hitters be first-years is not the norm, he is “very happy with their growth and improvement throughout the season.”

“There will always be growing pains with freshmen in the lineup, but they all have done their jobs and stayed focused on improvement throughout.  That is something … that will also benefit us in the future.”

Corey also commented on all the ways that she and the team have felt supported beyond just the coaching staff. “We have some really great staff here at Goshen,” Corey said, referring specifically to athletic director Dwight Gingerich and Jesse Loewen, associate director of the Academic Success Center and student-athlete success coach.

Corey said that Loewen in particular has gone out of his way to make sure that she felt supported.

“I’ve been trying not to look at my stats as of recently,” Corey said, indicating that she wasn’t even aware she was the athlete of the week until she arrived at practice.

Later that day, though, she received that email from Loewen congratulating her and going through her strong stats.

“[The email] was just a really big confidence booster — there are people from all different angles seeing that I’m trying to improve,” Corey said.

Women’s volleyball has five more matches to close out the season, with only one more home match on Nov. 1.

They will take on the Marian Knights in their senior day match-up at 3 p.m.