GOSHEN, Ind. — The Goshen College volleyball team went the distance Wednesday night, playing their longest match of the season and the second-longest set in school history as the Maple Leafs defeated the University of St. Francis 22-25, 26-24, 35-37, 25-15, 15-5 at Gunden Gymnasium.

Lexa Magnuson finished with a team-high 17 kills of 36 attempts, one of a quintet of Maple Leafs to post double-digit kills on the evening. Hallie Vanitvelt, Katy Anspach and Whitney Peterson each had 13, with Magnuson and Peterson posting matching .417 hitting percentages; Natalie Hubby finished with 10 spike winners.

Lisa Rodriguez and Kelsey Smith set up the attacks with 32 and 30 assists, respectively: Goshen and USF combined for 139 kills, 441 attack attempts, and 210 digs. The Maple Leafs ended nine points at the net, led by Hubby, who had a hand in five including two solos.

The marathon third stanza saw the teams tied at every possible number of points between 24 and 35 before a pair of Goshen errors let USF pull out the win. Goshen saved 10 set points, including four between 24-20 and 24-23, and also had five chances to serve and end the set.

The 72 points in the third stanza were the most since Goshen played 74 points in a 38-36 win over Lawrence Tech on Oct. 26, 2012. The Maple Leafs have gone to 36-34 in a set six times, most recently in 2007: both of the longer stanzas have come since the 2008 rule change that required 25 points to win the set.

With the victory, the Maple Leafs return to .500 at 13-13 this season and improve to 5-10 in the Crossroads League. St. Francis is 9-18 and 5-10, and the two teams are tied for seventh. Goshen steps away from the league this weekend for four matches at the Lyz Lykowski Memorial Tournament in South Bend: they begin play Friday afternoon against Ave Maria, with first serve set for 2 p.m.

More, including comments from Goshen coach Jim Routhier, to come when available.