OCT. 29 — Goshen Can't Tally Win On "Rematch" Saturday
Leafs drop two matches against teams faced earlier in the season

Huntington, IN — If there was an air of familiarity for the Goshen College women’s volleyball team at Saturday’s Huntington University Tri-Match, it was well-deserved: Goshen had faced both the host Foresters (a 30-28, 26-30, 30-26, 30-25 win on Oct. 5) and the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wolves (a 30-21, 30-18, 30-21 loss in the Maple Leaf Invitational on Sept. 17) earlier in the season. Unfortunately for the Leafs, the team was not able to put together a win in either of the re-match matches, falling by a 21-30, 24-30, 22-30 score to Huntington and a 22-30, 32-30, 25-30, 13-30 decision to Michigan-Dearborn.

“As a team, our best performance this weekend was on defense,” said Jewel Lehman, Goshen head coach. “Even with the losses, it is clear that our players have a deep desire to win and we are more determined to keep the ball off the floor than earlier this season. We just have to continue to improve in other areas to have a chance to win close matches.”

Lehman was looking to keep her undefeated streak against the Forester program in tact (3-0) at the outset of Saturday’s festivities, but a poor serve-receive performance against Huntington squashed that attempt. Goshen (6-24, 1-6) posted a serve-receive percentage of just .802 for the match, tallying 12 blocking errors as well.

“Despite devoting a significant amount of practice time to serve receive in the past week and a half, we continued to struggle to get the first ball up to (sophomore setter) Jess (Buller),” Lehman said. “Our sets were all over the place and our hitters weren’t able to terminate as a result.”

That fact was evident in the team’s .000 attack percentage on the morning, generating just 27 kills in 115 attempts. Senior Anna Herdeck and freshman Betsy Freeman placed eight kills apiece on .031 and .182 attacking percentages, respectively. Sophomore Carly Feldman notched six kills on a .000 attack percentage, while all other players with recorded kills hit under the .000 line.

Goshen did fare much better on the defensive side of the net, charting 71 digs in the short match. Herdeck led that charge with 18 scoops, while Feldman had 17. Buller came up with 10 digs to go with 22 assists from her setting position. Sophomore Christina Leichty had nine digs. The loss marked the program’s first to Huntington since the 2003 season, as Goshen had defeated the Foresters in four of the last five meetings. Saturday’s match was a non-conference affair.

“Our back row defense was the bright spot Saturday morning,” Lehman said. “We kept 71 of Huntington’s attack attempts off the floor. We were really tense during the match and that was reflected by our poor performance in most other areas. Huntington was playing great back row defense, though, and our hitters had to keep working the ball around their block. We made too many blocking errors at the net. Our serving (.866) and attacking percentages were too low to contend for the match.”

Those stats improved against Michigan-Dearborn in the day’s second contest, but still Goshen was not able to finish close games for a win. The Leafs played the initial three stanzas with a determined effort before falling 13-30 in a lackluster finish.

“After taking a break following the morning match, we were able to relax a bit more against U.M.-Dearborn,” Lehman said. “Overall we passed somewhat better in this match and therefore were able to toss up better sets for the hitters. Our attackers had some difficulty working around the big Dearborn block. We weren’t deceptive enough on offense to catch their middle blockers cheating the wrong way.”

Feldman was the most effective, charting 20 kills on a .410 attack percentage to go with 12 digs and four service aces. Herdeck notched the same amount of aces to go with13 kills and 13 digs, while sophomore Stephanie Kennell tallied 14 digs along with a perfect serving performance and two solo blocks. Freeman dug 10 balls and placed four kills, while Buller recorded 35 assists off of 140 sets. She finished with 10 digs.

“We really battled U.M.-Dearborn, but ultimately they were able to put together runs that we couldn’t match,” Lehman said. “We were able to get several key points in the third game for our only win, but in the others Dearborn was able to rattle off series of serves and strong attacks that we couldn’t match. We are getting better, though, and are looking forward to a big match at home Wednesday.”

Goshen will host Mid-Central Conference foe University of St. Francis Wednesday in its final home event of the season. Herdeck, the team’s lone senior, will be honored before the match. Event time is set for 7 p.m.