By Tony Miller
Sports Information Director

GOSHEN, Ind. — Darienne Maust racked up a dozen points on nine kills and four blocks and senior Christy Swartzendruber led the Goshen College women's volleyball team with 24 hitting attempts on Senior Day, a three-set loss to Spring Arbor University on Saturday at Gunden Gymnasium.

Sophomore Lindsay McQuinn added six kills and a block for the Maple Leafs (12-18, 4-13 Crossroads League), who finished the day a game behind Mount Vernon Nazarene with one match remaining in the conference schedule for both teams.

Spring Arbor (10-20, 4-14), which was eliminated from conference tournament contention earlier in the week, closed its season on a high note with the 25-17, 25-13, 25-20 win. Courtney Kyser finished with nine kills, matching Maust for the match high, and Alyssa Walker had seven as the team hit .234.

The first set stayed reasonably level, with neither team leading by more than three points until SAU pulled ahead 15-11. Even then, the Maple Leafs responded with a block and a kill by McQuinn as part of a three-point run to close within one. But that was followed by a service error and a Walker winner: after Swartzendruber put down one of her four kills, Spring Arbor closed the stanza on an 8-2 run.

A nine-point Cougar run broke open a second set that had been as close as 8-7, culminating in a set that saw the Cougars hit .310 with 13 kills. Goshen claimed three straight points to start the third set before five errors in a six-point span gave SAU a 6-4 lead. The final period included a five-point spurt to shift the paradigm from 8-8 to 13-8, followed by a pair of 8-4 runs: first Goshen used three kills from Natalie Omtvedt to pull within 17-16 before SAU sealed the match behind two more Watson kills.

The teams combined for 29 errors on 107 attacks per side, with Goshen's .112 clip coming in just shy of half what they allowed. Spring Arbor also finished with 55 digs to Goshen's 53 and five of the six aces, led by three from Stephaney Fifield.

Each libero—Fifield and MacKinnon Tracy of Goshen—led her team with 19 digs. Goshen's Ally Roehr had a match-high 22 assists while Annica Stotz had 17 and Emily Martin 11 for SAU. Kasey Follis was the only Cougar with more than one block.

The loss puts Goshen's back against the wall in relation to qualifying for the conference tournament: the team needs a win on Wednesday against Grace and a Mount Vernon Nazarene loss on Tuesday at Saint Francis to earn the eighth seed.

With the Cougars finishing their season before the Maple Leafs, Goshen may go into Wednesday's match knowing that a win earns it a trip to Indianapolis to play Marian on Saturday.

First serve for the regular-season finale is set for 7 p.m. in Gunden Gymnasium.