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Goshen College

Women's Volleyball

Giger's Season Highs Send Goshen Past Grace

Box Score

GOSHEN, Ind. — Kylie Giger fired home a season-high 13 winners and Lexa Magnuson added nine as the former Elkhart Memorial High School teammates helped power the Goshen College volleyball team swept Grace on Wednesday night in Gunden Gymnasium.

That duo accounted for 22 of Goshen's 45 kills and seven of the 12 blocks—six of which were by Giger, who was in on each of the Maple Leafs' six net stops in the 26-24, 25-13, 25-22 win. The six blocks were also a season high for the senior.

Christy Swartzendruber added six kills and Darienne Maust posted four for Goshen (10-9, 5-6 Crossroads League), which turned in a .262 hitting percentage for its third-highest mark of the season in that category.

"You cannot say enough about the way Kylie played tonight," said Goshen coach Jim Routhier after the match with enough enthusiasm for several exclamation points. "She took control of the net both offensively and defensively. Lexa was back in form and hit very well. Our defense was like bees around a hive swarming to everything."

Goshen used an 8-3 run to break open the first set, leading 21-15 before Grace came back to level the score at 22, 23 and 24. Winners from Giger and Meghan Gerke finished off the stanza on the 50th point. The Maple Leafs never trailed in the second set, leading 7-3, 15-9 and 23-11.

The hosts won the first point of the third set, but Grace (11-10, 5-6 CL) led most of the way in an attempt to stay alive. After falling behind 9-5, Goshen closed to within one at 11-10 and 12-11. The Lancers led all the way to 19-18, then again at 20-19 before Goshen closed the match with a 6-2 spurt. Whitney Peterson added kills on two of those six points.

The Maple Leafs posted 74 digs to Grace's 64 and racked up a 6-3 edge on the net. Goshen had three aces and Grace two, all of which came from different players. Ally Roehr led Goshen with 19 assists, one more than Hallie Vanitvelt. Danielle Plank led all players with 22 digs.

The win moved Goshen into a four-way tie for fourth in the Crossroads League standings, joining Bethel, Grace and Marian. Should the Leafs and Lancers finish level, Goshen will have the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning four of the seven head-to-head-sets. Each team in the tie has seven regular-season matches remaining.

The Maple Leafs return to the floor less than 46 hours from the end of Wednesday's match when they host third-place Taylor at 7 p.m. Friday. The match is part of Goshen's Homecoming Weekend, marking the first time since 2012 that Routhier's squad has played in front of the annual alumni convention.

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