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Goshen, IN — The Goshen College women’s volleyball team made good use of its only multiple-team, home tournament of the season Friday, winning the Goshen College Tri-Match with wins over Siena Heights University and Taylor University-Fort Wayne.
Goshen (6-3, 1-1) needed four games in each tilt to capture wins, while Friday’s event provided more grandiose numbers: With the wins, the Leafs equaled and then surpassed the program’s total number of wins for the entire 2006 season (five) and 2005 campaign (six).
With improvement comes higher expectations, however, as head coach Jewel Lehman was quick to point out that her team has yet to reach its potential.
“It was nice to win our own invite, yes, but we are still fairly inconsistent,” Lehman said. “We’re playing very, very well at times, but then we’ll have just one game where we lose it and can’t get it back together. I think it has mostly to do with our youth, but we have to get better if we want to go the places I think we can go.”
Exemplifying Lehman’s view was a hiccup in each of Goshen’s matches on Friday, as the Leafs dispatched Siena Heights 30-18, 30-23, 28-30, 30-27 and Taylor-Fort Wayne by a 30-18, 30-26, 17-30, 30-23 count. Only the third game proved to be a problem for the Leafs on Friday, most notably in the squad’s latter contest against the Lady Falcons.
Still, Goshen was able to overcome its one-game flaw in both instances due to solid serving and an impressive attacking scheme. The Leafs hit at just a .150 attack percentage against Siena Heights, but placed 86 percent of its serves in play, finishing with a tournament-high 16 aces.
Freshman sensation Peni Acayo led the team with 17 kills on a .273 attack percentage, followed by sophomore Ashley Janssen with 12 kills on a .269 clip. Janssen supplied a team-best four service aces, while sophomore Brittany Herschberger led the defense with 11 digs (Acayo scooped eight). Sophomore setter Alli Hawkins earned praise from Lehman following the day’s events, tallying 30 assists against Siena Heights and 52 helpers against the Lady Falcons.
“Alli is starting to play well right now,” Lehman said. “She’s getting to the place where she doesn’t have to think about setting. She’s beginning to focus on the flow of the game, who’s hitting well, when to set and when to dump, those types of things. She’s really doing a god job at the tactical points.”
Hawkins provided even distribution to Goshen’s hitters in the nightcap against Taylor-Fort Wayne, as four players finished in double-figure kill totals. Acayo (17), Herschberger (12), Janssen (10) and freshman Kelsey Herschberger (10) all hit at a .235 attacking clip or better.
“Overall, we played much better than we did against Taylor (University) on Tuesday,” Lehman said. “We didn’t miss to many serves overall, but we did miss some at criticial times. Our goal now is to work on tightening up our play and being able to stop runs against us. If we can do that, we’ll be much more competitive and have a chance to win some of the games that are currently getting away from us.”
Siena Heights defeated Taylor-Fort Wayne 27-30, 30-20, 30-26, 32-30 in the evening's other match. The event provided Goshen's its second match with Siena Heights on the season, as the Leafs handed the Saints a 30-23, 30-24, 30-27 defeat on Aug. 31 at the Judson University Invitational.
Goshen will return to the Roman Gingerich Center on Tuesday, when the team resumes Mid-Central Conference competition against Huntington University. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
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Sophomore Alli Hawkins