GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Andy Bennett led all players with 6 blocks and 5 aces Friday afternoon as the 14th-ranked Goshen College men's volleyball team outlasted Aquinas College in five sets at the Sturrus Sports and Fitness Center in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference match.
Alexander Rabadzhiev paced the Maple Leafs (9-4, 3-1) with 15 kills and Michael Wahl had 32 assists as the team moved into a tie for second in the conference standings, winning 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12.
The Saints (3-4, 2-3) came back to tie the match twice after falling a set behind and led 6-2 in the final set, but Goshen had other ideas with an 8-1 run before the teams alternated the last 10 points.
Aquinas picked up a career-high 23 kills and 4 aces from Julian Armendano while Kelsey Yogi had 14 digs and Leo-Paul Rousseau assisted on 47 of the 56 kills. Rousseau also chipped in 10 digs for the double-double.
Goshen finished with 39 kills to Aquinas' 56, but the Saints had more hitting errors (29-20) and service errors (24-13) while Goshen had more aces.
The first set was played within a five-point window, with neither team going up more than two, until a three-point run on Bennett's serve put Goshen ahead 13-11 and a pair of Saint errors made it 15-12. Aquinas won four of the next six points to get back within 17-16, but the visitors reeled off eight of the last 10 points for a set win.
Aquinas struck early in the second set, winning seven of the first nine points. Goshen made up that ground by 10-all and led briefly at 11-10 before the hosts, who received national votes last week, went on another 5-1 run. Goshen took three straight points to pull within 19-18 before a 6-1 AC run wrapped up the set and forced a fourth.
Brief early runs defined the third set, with Goshen going up 4-1 and 9-4 before Aquinas came back both times. After trading points in the middle of the set, two kills and a Bennett ace put GC up 19-14 before the Saints leveled at 22. A service error gave Goshen the lead again, though, and another miscue gave the visitors a set point that Sauder converted with an ace.
Aquinas went up 6-2 and 11-7 in the fourth set, never trailing although Goshen would cut the lead to one point on five occasions. The Saints hit a match-high .289 in the set with 15 kills, while Goshen posted 12 kills (its most of the match) and 5 errors (its second-most).
The Saints' momentum carried into the deciding set, which started with two kills and two aces to go up 4-0 before a Goshen service error and a block made it 6-2. Elias Baer ended that run with a kill and Bennett reeled off three straight aces to tie the set at 6. Though Matthew Glass put AC back in front with a spike, that was promptly canceled out by a service error and three more Goshen points put the Leafs back in front for good at 10-7. The receiving team won 10 straight points to end the match.
Goshen plays its second of back-to-back matches on Saturday when it welcomes Cornerstone University to Ruth Gunden Gymnasium. First serve is set for 5 p.m. in another WHAC competition.
