ANN ARBOR, Mich. — After dropping its season opener despite leading two sets to none, the Goshen College volleyball team could have been forgiven for having a proverbial monkey on its back.

Consider the monkey officially evicted.

The Maple Leafs won a pair of five-set matches in pool play Friday afternoon, cruised through a crossover match against a team from the other pool Saturday morning and knocked off the hosts Friday afternoon to win the Concordia Kick-Off Classic with a 4-0 record.

Drawn into Pool B, Goshen defeated Lawrence Tech 25-21, 20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-8 and Siena Heights 25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 17-25, 15-13 on Friday. In the latter match, the Saints led 7-1 in the deciding set before the Maple Leafs stormed back to win 14 of the next 20 points and the match.

"This team does not mind playing from behind," said head coach Jim Routhier after the tournament. "In fact, they play some of their best volleyball when they are under pressure. I see a lot of confidence growing in every match they play. The seniors are great leaders for the underclassmen and it creates a very positive and winning environment."

After claiming the Pool B title, Goshen was bracketed against Rochester College Saturday morning in the crossover game. For the first time this season, the match did not go the distance and the Leafs prevailed 25-22, 25-12, 26-24. Lexa Magnuson led all players with 10 kills and Natalie Hubby had seven: when the dust had settled, both players were named to the all-tournament team.

Crossover play yielded two teams with perfect records, so Goshen next faced host Concordia in the championship. The Maple Leafs won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-19 before the Cardinals cut into their deficit with a 25-20 third-set win. But the fourth set went to Goshen 25-21 and with it came the match and the championship.

"There were so many good things about the tournament that it's hard to list them," said Routhier. "It's been a while since we won a tournament going 4-0, and we did it the hard way, coming out of the harder pool, not getting to bed until midnight and having to leave at 7:30 Saturday morning."

"Freshmen Whitney Peterson and Hallie Vanitvelt were solid all tourney in hitting and blocking," said Routhier. "They don't play like freshmen. Neither do Ciana Bonfiglio and MacKinnon Tracy, who have really solidified the defense."

Full statistics were not available at press time.

Goshen returns to the court Tuesday evening when the Maple Leafs visit Roosevelt University in Chicago for a 7 p.m. (EDT) first serve.

More to come when available.