Upland, IN — It wasn’t
as if the youthful, undermanned Goshen College volleyball team
needed any additional obstacles in its path as it closes in on
the homestretch of the 2005 season.
On Tuesday evening, it got one.
Starting sophomore setter Jess Buller was forced to exit Monday’s
practice early with a pulled peroneal tendon in her foot, keeping
her out of the lineup in Tuesday’s Mid-Central Conference
match at Taylor University. Freshman Caitlin Helmuth was inserted
back into the setter position, but without Buller in the lineup — she
usually occupies an outside hitting position when not setting — Goshen
struggled in a 18-30, 26-30, 20-30 loss to the host Trojans.
“Although we started this match kind of slow, we pulled together
in the second game, but couldn’t keep any momentum going
into the third,” said Jewel Lehman, Goshen head coach. “Plagued
by injuries, we were not able to gain control of the match.”
Joining Buller on the sidelines for most of the match was sophomore
outside hitter Stephanie Kennell, who still is recovering from
a grade two ankle sprain suffered in the Tri-State Invitational
back on Sept. 3. While Kennell did step on the Taylor floor for
all three games, it was only in back row play, as the sophomore
ended the night with 10 digs, a perfect serve percentage and eight
serve receives with just one error.
“Having several key experienced players out makes our starting
lineup pretty young,” Lehman said. “Our attackers weren’t
going very strong initially and Taylor took advantage of the down
balls and free balls we sent their way.”
Goshen (2-15, 0-4) struggled mightily in the night’s first
stanza, getting relatively nothing going offensively in the lopsided,
18-30 defeat. Lehman’s team did pick things up considerably
in the second match, forcing the Lady Trojans to pull out some
key points at the end before prevailing 30-26.
“We played even with them in the second game but let it slip
away toward the end,” Lehman said. “We struggled with
blocking, and our defense is not where it needs to be to compete
against
hard hitting teams like Taylor and other conference teams.”
Having Buller and Kennell in the front row would help that cause,
but Tuesday night the Leafs made due with what they had available.
Sophomore Carly Feldman was again the lead player in front for
Lehman’s team, finishing with 11 kills on a .176 attack percentage.
She also provided a team-high 12 digs. Freshman Betsy Freeman also
played well at the net, tallying 10 kills on a nifty .217 attack
percentage to go with seven digs. Helmuth finished with 20 assists
on 100 sets, providing 10 digs as well. It was a rough night for
lone senior Anna Herdeck, however, as the bouncy outside hitter
could only register three kills on 25 attempts. She dug 11 balls
in the back and finished with two aces from the service line.
As a team, Goshen recorded no solo or assist blocks, the first
match of the season that the Leafs have been blanked at the net
defensively.
“We’ve got three practices this week and then an exhibition
match against program Alumni on Saturday for homecoming weekend,” Lehman
said. “We are planning to take some time to recover from
injuries. Hopefully Jess will be back in the lineup in a few days
and Stephanie is gaining confidence in her lateral movement again.
We expect her to be ready for the front line again soon. We’ll
continue practicing in areas of weakness and to regroup for Huntington
at home next week. We look forward to playing at home again.”
Goshen will host the Foresters of Huntington University for its
next official match, with match time set for 7 p.m. Wednesday evening.
Prior to that match, however, Goshen will face program alumni in
the Roman Gingerich Center on Saturday as part of homecoming weekend.
Match time is set for 10 a.m.
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  Freshman
Betsy Freeman
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