The 2011 season for the women’s volleyball team came to a close on Tuesday with a loss against No. 15 ranked Indiana Wesleyan University. The Leafs could not stop the Wildcats’ 13 game winning streak and were defeated 25-23, 25-13 and 25-21.

“Tuesday night was a tough match,” said Hannah Greiser, a junior. “We played hard and fought until the last point of the third game, but there seemed to be a connection missing between our team as a whole. We stayed with them in the first and third games and had some great plays throughout. IWU has a really quick offense, which caught us a number of times, but we still managed to make runs and catch them off guard as well. It just wasn’t quite enough.”

Despite the loss, the team’s season record was an impressive 17-15. For seniors Cassie Greives, Indy Miller, Naomi Webster and team captain, Kate Yoder, this will be their last season with the Goshen volleyball team.

“I feel good about the season overall,” Yoder said. “It could have just been a rebuilding year but we worked really hard to make it more than just a rebuilding year. Even though we lost in the first tournament game, I think we went 9-12 out of our 12 past games we’ve won. So we’ve really been improving. I’m disappointed that we lost but I feel really good about the season overall. It was a lot of fun and the team had great chemistry and that makes a world of difference.”

Grieser will return next year to be one of three seniors leading the young team.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve been on as far as personalities and team dynamics,” Grieser said. “As a senior next year, I hope to help lead our team to a win at the conference championship. It’s hard to make predictions about the coming year, but I think overall we will be stronger since we’ll be playing with more experience. We’ll certainly miss our seniors, though.”

Indeed, the 2012 season shows potential for the women’s volleyball team. Four first-years held strong positions on the team including Jamie Stack, Missy Mackowiak, Sam Heberling and Melanie Meyer. Mackowiak led the team as libero and top defensive player, while Stack, Heberling and Meyer were three of the team’s four leading offensive players on the net.

Yoder added, “They’re going to be awesome next year. Once the first-years have more experience under their belts, they’re going to be really good.”