MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – The Goshen College volleyball team traveled to Mount Vernon Nazarene to compete in conference play Wednesday night. It was the final regular-season Crossroads League contests for both teams, who will begin tournament play on November 6.

"We played pretty tough," said head coach Jim Routhier of the Maple Leafs, "Natalie (Hubby) stepped in for Mel (Meyer) who is injured and did a great job."

The Cougars were a strong hitting team, but that did not stop the Maple Leafs from racking up some quality hits themselves.  Top hitters for the night included senior Hannah Grieser with 11 kills, junior Emily Waits with 10, and sophomore Jamie Stack with 9. Junior setter Stacy Wyse led the team with 32 assists for the night, while Missy Mackowiak posted a team-high 23 digs.

The Maple Leafs hit a sparkling .467 in the first set and had just nine attacking errors all night.  The difference, though, was the inability to stop the Cougar trio of Haley Nofziger, Gina Porto, and Kendra Votaw who combined for 46 kills.

In the end the Lady Leafs fell to the Cougars in four tough set at 25-17, 22-25, 22-25, and 25-27.

"We were in the match until the very end," said Routhier, "I was pleased with our effort especially after a long bus rid we won the first set. We came out swinging and really kept the pressure on with the aggressive serving and attacking."

Goshen College is now 13-17 overall and 8-10 in the Crossroads League.  They will be the #7 seed in the conference tournament and will head to #2 seed Taylor University (20-11, 13-4 CL) on November 6.  Before that, Goshen will play in the Cornerstone University tournament over the weekend before home contests with Aquinas College and Indiana South Bend next week.