ELGIN, Ill. — The Goshen College men's volleyball team won three of its four matches in the Judson University Early Bird Invitational this weekend, losing to Mount Mercy University on Friday afternoon before blanking Judson, Webber International and Lincoln on Friday and Saturday in Judson's Lindner Fitness Center.
Alexander Rabadzhiev led all players with 10 aces and was third with 42 kills across the five teams that played in the round-robin event. He led all players in points (kills, aces and blocks combined) after adding in his eight blocks.
Lucas Sauder added 32 winners in 14 sets to rank seventh in that category; he also recorded 4 aces to come in ninth there. Michael Wahl was third with 118 assists and sixth with 5 aces.
Andy Bennett tied for second with 14 blocks for the weekend while Ian Fox was fifth with 11. Brayton Yoder had 35 digs to rank third and Nick Yutzy added 22 to claim the final spot in that top 10.
In the team rankings, GC led all five schools with its .262 hitting percentage; the Maple Leafs were second in aces and blocks while claiming third in kills, assists and digs. Mount Mercy, the lone team to finish unbeaten, won four of the other five categories and was second to Judson in digs.
Summaries of Goshen's four matches follow: click on the bold headings with the scores in them to go to the box score for a match.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Mount Mercy 3, #14 Goshen 2 (25-22, 26-28, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11)
Goshen came back from a set down twice and led by three in the final set but could not slam the door against a Mount Mercy team that has received national votes this year. Rabadzhiev led Goshen (5-4) with 17 kills and Sauder added 12, but Mount Mercy (2-0) put three players in double figures in kills and outspiked Goshen 60-46.
The Mustangs opened up a 7-point lead at 13-6 in the first set, then held on as Goshen went on an 8-2 run to get back within a point. The Maple Leafs saved three set points, forcing two attack errors and getting a Rabadzhiev kill before going down a set.
The second stanza required extra points and a late Maple Leaf comeback after trailing by four as late as 21-17. Bennett, Elias Baer and Rabadzhiev all had kills in a 6-2 spurt that ended in a Bennett ace to tie the score at 23. Goshen saved two more set points on kills from Fox and Sauder, the latter of which tied it at 25, before a Sauder ace and error extended things to 26-all. Baer's kill gave Goshen a second set point and he and Bennett hooked up on the block to level the match.
Goshen took a 5-3 lead in the third before dropping nine of the next 12 points; Mount Mercy took the lead at 8-7 and never trailed again thanks to three three-point runs. The fourth set had no early run and was tied as late as 12-all before Goshen opened a 5-1 run. A pair of Mustang errors made it 20-14 before Bennett and Rabadzhiev combined for four kills in the last six rallies.
GC went up 6-3 in the final set, a race to 15, and led 9-6 thanks to five Mustang errors. Mount Mercy was able to turn the tide, though, getting three kills from Ben Steffen and two from Scott Buros on an 8-0 run. Baer and Rabadzhiev each had kills to save match points, but the third time was the charm for Buros to fire off a winner.
FRIDAY EVENING: #14 Goshen 3, Judson 0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19)
Goshen held the Eagles' attack underwater, with more errors than kills in two of the three sets while the Maple Leafs hit .230. Goshen also finished with 10 blocks to Judson's 5.
Judson took a 4-2 lead in the first set and extended it to 9-6, but most of those points came from Maple Leaf miscues. Goshen got its first run of the match to tie the score at 9, and from that point forward won 19 of the last 26 rallies. At one point, Goshen got six Judson errors in seven rallies to go up 16-12 before the team reeled off seven of the last eight points.
The Maple Leafs again trailed briefly in the second set, but righted the ship to the tune of a 6-0 run. The Eagles came back with a 3-0 run to close within 16-15 on two Jamison Blasing kills, then answered with three straight kills to go up 20-18. Two service errors in the final nine points ended the threat, though, as GC finished on a 7-2 run to take the set.
Goshen broke open a 7-all tie with four straight points in the third set and never trailed again as Bennett, Rabadzhiev, Wahl and Sauder all had a hand in the run. Back-to-back Rabadzhiev kills put the team up 20-14 and four of Goshen's last five points came via error.
Rabadzhiev claimed 8 kills and 2 aces to lead the team. Fox led all players with 6 blocks; Yoder finished with 7 digs while Yutzy and Baer added 6.
SATURDAY MORNING: #14 Goshen 3, Webber International 0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-13)
For the second straight match, Goshen's defense wreaked havoc on the opponent as Webber International racked up 21 errors against 22 kills. Goshen hit .524 in the second set on the way to the win before cruising in the third.
Rabadzhiev finished with match-highs of 11 kills and 4 aces while Bennett had 5 blocks and Fox and Sauder 4 each. Yoder added 9 digs, more than twice as many as any other player.
Webber International, another team with national rankings in its recent past, raced to a 6-2 lead and held it as far as 14-10 when a Bennett kill sparked a 4-0 Maple Leaf run. The Warriors then reeled off two kills and an ace before gifting Goshen five of the next six points to fall behind 20-17. After GC saw its lead cut to 23-22, Rabadzhiev finished the first set with two kills.
Goshen broke open a 9-9 set with a 9-2 run in the second, getting a Fox block off a Yutzy serve to go up 23-13 for its first double-digit lead. The lead came more quickly in the third set as GC went from 5-4 to 15-6 in a dozen rallies. Rabadzhiev finished the second set with a kill and Yutzy ran out the clock on the third set with an ace.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: #14 Goshen 3, Lincoln 0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-13)
Sauder led all players with 8 winners while Fox and Rabadzhiev had 6 apiece in the nightcap. Wahl led the Maple Leafs with 3 aces, a block and 29 assists while Sauder had two aces and three assists. Goshen hit at least .316 in all three sets and totaled .409 for the match, indicating that the Maple Leafs found a formula for success over their last nine sets.
The Maple Leafs trailed in the match, in the sense that they lost the first two points and three of the first four, but turned it around to the tune of an 11-7 lead by the middle of the first set. A 6-2 run made it 18-12 and Fox served out the final four points.
After falling behind 2-1 and 3-2 in the second, Goshen went on a 9-3 rally to take a five-point lead after two Rabadzhiev winners. Lincoln came roaring back to tie the set at 15, but GC snapped off 10 of the last 12 points including eight kills — four from Fox, three from Sauder and one from Will Gaby.
Goshen never trailed in the third set, stretching its run to 14-2 across the set break as it took a 4-0 lead. Another four-point run later on doubled the edge to 15-7 on two Wahl aces and a Joel Plank spike. Insee Akarapan had two kills in the final 10 GC points, including the match winner.
Looking Ahead:
The Maple Leafs are scheduled to play three times next week, making a voyage to Kentucky on Tuesday to play Thomas More College in suburban Cincinnati before traveling to Aquinas on Friday and hosting Cornerstone on Saturday.
First serve in the Thomas More match is set for 6 p.m. in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
