(Box Score) Goshen, IN — Following the Goshen College women’s volleyball team’s last four losses, it is now clear that Leafs’ head coach Jewel Lehman is pushing for a rules change.
After all, if volleyball were scored using a composite point total, Goshen would be 3-1 in those matches.
The same held true Tuesday evening in the Roman Gingerich Center, as Goshen (9-10, 1-4) dropped a crucial, 30-19, 25-30, 30-24, 28-30, 13-15 Mid-Central Conference decision to rival Grace College, outscoring the Lancers by an 126-118 aggregate but failing to capture the markers when necessary.
The defeat catapulted Grace to a half game lead over Goshen in the ultra-tight MCC standings — the Lancers now possess a 2-4 league mark and the head to head tie-breaker with the Leafs — while Lehman’s squad fell to 1-4 in five-game matches on the season.
“This was a really disappointing loss for all of us tonight,” Lehman said. “Our players had set goals to be in the middle of the conference, and we are right there. We have to win matches like this, however, if we want to accomplish what we’ve set out to do.”
The loss was just Goshen’s second at home on the season, but third defeat when outscoring opponents in overall point total. The Leafs tallied higher composite scores against Huntington University on Oct. 5 (127-123, click here for related article) and the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Sept. 28 (118-117, click here for article), both 3-2 losses.
“We’re scoring enough points, but just not at the right times,” Lehman said.
Early Tuesday night against Grace, it seemed that no such mathematics would be necessary. Lehman’s team dismantled the Lancers by a 30-16 count in the first game, looking to set the stage for a quick win.
Grace responded with some tough play in game two, however, limiting Goshen to a match-low .170 attack percentage and coming away with a 30-25 win.
After another dominating Leafs’ performance in the third stanza, a neck-and-neck fourth game would ultimately determine the overall winner. Goshen shot out to an early 12-9 lead in the fourth, but an ensuing four to nothing Lancers’ run would keep things close throughout. Goshen eventually found itself down by as many as seven points (a 21-28 disadvantage), but a timeout and freshman Peni Acayo kill ignited a five to nothing run to make things interesting down the stretch.
One of 10 fourth-game service errors halted the Leafs’ comeback, however, and Grace eventually escaped with the 28-30 decision.
With a chance to win its second final-stanza decision of the year, Lehman’s squad could not hold on late. A kill from sophomore Gina Richard opened the scoring, and the teams traded points all the way up to a 12-12 score. The Lancers were able to secure the match’s next two points, however, slowly making use of the do-or-die pressure on the Leafs. With a chance to tie the game at 14, Acayo had an attack that sailed wide down the near line, ending yet another heartbreaking match for the Leafs.
“What we’re trying to understand is that games are won and lost in the middle (portion of scoring), not necessarily at the end,” Lehman said. “We have to win games in the middle, and I thought we did a really good job of that in game three.”
In the Leafs’ third game win, Lehman’s squad responded after witnessing a 21-13 lead turn into a 21-21 draw midway through. A timeout helped redirect the team, and Goshen cashed in on nine of the game’s next 11 points.
The opposite was true of the fourth game, however, as Grace turned a 21-13 Leafs’ lead into a 28-30 Lancers’ win.
“There’s a mix of things that are contributing to our lack of execution at certain times, and generally it is our collective youth,” Lehman said. “We start playing tentative, and you just can’t. If you’re going to go down, you have to go down swinging. Generally, young players have a tendency to start dumping balls over the net when things get tense, hoping the other team will make a mistake. At this level that doesn’t work. In high school it’s a possibility, but at this level your opponent gladly takes a free ball and rams it down your throat. It’s a change of mentality for young players at this level.”
Goshen committed a season-high 20 service errors on the evening against Grace, with the aforementioned 10 coming in the game four loss. The Leafs’ overall attack percentage (.207) and total digs (78) were more than enough to garner a win, according to Lehman.
“In the fourth game we didn’t do enough of our stuff to win,” she said. “We talk a lot about earned points versus points your opponent gives you, and if you want to win conference matches you have to earn your points. We didn’t, and we’ve talked before about how a fifth game is a crapshoot. In rally scoring, it’s a quick game that doesn’t always favor the team playing the best. You can’t let it get to that point.”
Acayo set a new career high in kills on the night, charting a match-best 32 kills on a ridiculous .410 attack percentage. Her 4.6 kills per game now has her ranked 14th in the nation within that statistical category. Sophomore Alli Hawkins also set a season-high in assists with 63. Freshman Kelsey Herschberger tallied 14 kills on a .171 attack percentage. Sophomore Brittany Herschberger led the team with 18 digs. Goshen did notch nine aces from the service line in helping to offset its 20 errors. Brittany Herschberger, Acayo and sophomore Lindsey Nofziger each had two.
“I’m really excited about our potential, and you can’t rush development,” Lehman said. “It’s going to come when it comes. But, we still are going to continue to practice extremely hard and work on pressure situations. I hope we can get through this and to a point where we’re confident enough to take games and matches like this. I know we can do it.”
Goshen will next take a lengthy road trip to Bridgewater College (Bridgewater, Virginia) to participate in a dual match, facing both the hosts at 11 a.m. and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at 3:30 p.m. The team will then travel to sister school — and alma matter of both Lehman and assistant coach Val Hershberger — Eastern Mennonite University for a single match at 8 p.m. Saturday evening.
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Sophomore Alli Hawkins