FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Haylee Pennington got 8 kills and Christina Towne added 16 digs for the Goshen College women's volleyball team Saturday in a three-set loss to the University of Saint Francis at the Hutzell Athletic Center. USF won 25-19, 25-15, 25-15.

Alexis Nelson and Taylor Karlo each led Saint Francis (2-5, 2-5 Crossroads League) with 8 kills and Shelby Mosier led all players with 5 blocks. Maile Steckelberg paced the Cougars with 13 digs.'

Goshen (0-6, 0-6) got 25 assists from Madi Simmons, who tied Saint Francis' Maria Pelak for the match high. Simmons also had a block, tying for the team lead with Madison Coles and Taylor Eash.

Saint Francis came out hot, winning eight of the first nine rallies to take an 8-1 lead before Goshen answered with four points in a row capped by a Pennington winner. The Maple Leafs never got closer than three points, though, and Saint Francis took the opening set despite winning only two of the last 11 points on its own serve.

Goshen had the earliest of leads in set two, starting with an Eash kill, but USF more than retaliated after a 6-1 run that included two Nelson kills. A Coles winner closed the gap to 10-6 and a Cougar attack error made it 11-7, but USF answered that with a four-point run to double up the visitors and cruised from there.

After ties at 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7, Saint Francis used three Maple Leaf errors and a Mosier kill to lead 11-7 in the third set. Pennington and Towne added a pair of winners to trim Goshen's deficit to 11-9 before a 5-1 run put the hosts back up 6. Saint Francis won eight of the last nine points.

The Cougars out-killed Goshen 32-26 and had half as many errors (22-11). Each team registered 32 attack attempts.

Goshen is back in action three times this week, playing Grace on Wednesday before traveling to Marian on Friday and Huntington on Saturday to reach the midpoint of the fall season. First serve in the Goshen-Grace match is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday in Goshen's Gunden Gymnasium.