SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Goshen College volleyball team earned its first Crossroads League victory, outlasting host Spring Arbor University 25-20, 21-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-11 Wednesday night.

"We all were excited to get our first conference win, especially since it came on the road," fourth-year head coach Jim Routhier said.  "Without Sam (Heberling), we had to really switch up out lineup.  She played offense as well as a defensive passer and that is a really hard thing to replace."

"Mandy (Schlabach) and Megan (Strock) came in and did a good job of playing Sam's position," he continued about the changes due to Heberling's injury.  "We switched Hannah (Grieser) to right side and Emily (Waits) to the middle.  Kelsey (Smith) also came in to set a 6-2 so we could have more swings at the net."

Without her sophomore teammate in the lineup, classmate Jaime Stack came up big.  She pounded a career high 16 kills and had just four hitting errors to lead the team with a 28.6 hitting percentage.  Senior Hannah Grieser also had a huge night, clubbing a career best 14 kills.  She also had just four errors and hit for a strong .278 percentage.

On the defensive end, sophomore Missy Mackowiak posted a match-high with 34 digs.  She has tied for or led the team and the match in digs in all 13 of the Maple Leafs' contests this season.  Freshman Kayla Riportella and senior Karina Rohrer-Meck also had strong matches with 13 and 10 digs, respectively.

The Maple Leafs grabbed the early match lead with a 25-20 win in set one, but dropped the next two.  They had to roll off 25-21 and 15-11 victories in the final two sets to earn the road win.

"I was very pleased at our intensity and our determination not to loose the match," Routhier added.  "It was a good match to build on going into Friday."

The match was the Maple Leafs first to go beyond the minimum of three sets and also snapped a four-match losing skid.  At 5-8 overall (1-3 CL), Goshen will return to the court when they host Huntington University at 7 p.m. on Friday night.