GOSHEN, Ind., and LINCOLN, Ill. — The Goshen College men's volleyball team pushed a pair of opponents to the limit Thursday and Friday, but came away with a pair of losses to Trinity Christian College and Lincoln College.

Thursday night at home, the Maple Leafs leveled the match with a second-set win and pulled ahead two sets to one against the Trolls (6-2) with a 27-25 triumph in the third stanza. Trinity Christian answered Goshen's two-point win with a 25-23 victory to require a deciding set, which the visitors took 15-9.

Alexander Rabadzhiev led all players with 29 kills, a GC program record, on 70 attempts. Trinity Christian out-killed the Maple Leafs 56-50 and needed their top two players to match Rabadzhiev's output: Djordje Novakovic finished with 16 winners and Ben Tocila had 13.

Trinity's Danny Lawrence nipped Goshen's Michael Wahl for the assist lead, 40-38. Tocila's 16 digs led all players with Novakovic and Lawrence also in double figures; Rabadzhiev had 12 digs and Nick Yutzy 11 for the hosts (2-7). Wahl finished one dig away from a double-double.

The Maple Leafs racked up 9 blocks, including 7 from Rabadzhiev and 4 by Lucas Sauder, but conceded 11. Jonathan Poortinga of Trinity Christian stopped 7 attacks himself.

Friday night, the battle of two first-year varsity programs required four sets, but three of those were separated by the minimum two-point margin as the Lynx won 25-23, 27-25, 24-26, 25-15.

Rabadzhiev again led all players with 16 kills, outpacing Charles Carter's 15 and Ramon Matos' 12 for the Lynx. Carter hit .375 and Deantrius Coleman .273 for the Lynx, who had eight of their nine players record at least as many kills as errors. Matos posted 7 aces and Nick Washington 4.

GC came away with 10.5 blocks, a season high, behind a solo stuff and 5 assists from Andy Bennett. Rabadzhiev and Christian Rodriguez blocked three attacks apiece. Coleman and Michael Wesley added 5 each for Lincoln.

Wahl led all players with 27 assists; Bryan Orellana recorded 23 and Washington 20 for Lincoln. The two liberos were the only players with double-digit digs.

After using a five-point run in the middle of the first set to flip a deficit into a lead and holding the edge through much of the second, Lincoln found itself trailing 23-21 in the third set. After three straight Lynx points, a Rabadzhiev kill erased match point and started a 3-0 GC win to keep the match alive.

Goshen also led 3-1 to start the fourth set, but Lincoln posted a 4-point run on Washington's serve and a 7-point spurt on Matos' serve.

Goshen is back in action Saturday, wrapping up its first three-matches-in-three-days stretches of the season. The Maple Leafs host Saint Xavier University at 7 p.m. EST following a basketball doubleheader at 1 and 3.