GOSHEN, Ind. — Lucas Sauder led Goshen College with eight kills, three Maple Leafs finished with eight digs and eight GC players posted at least two kills Saturday afternoon in a men's volleyball sweep of Maranatha Baptist University at Ruth Gunden Gymnasium. The NAIA no. 15 Maple Leafs won 25-11, 25-20, 25-20.
Michael Wahl led all players with 34 assists: he had a hand in 38 of Goshen's 75 points while the Sabercats won a total of 51. Ian Fox and Andy Bennett each had 7 kills and Elias Baer and Alexander Rabadzhiev each had 6.
Will Gaby led Goshen with a career-high 4 blocks, including 2 solos. GC won six points on stops at the net and seven on aces: Rabadzhiev, who leads the nation in service winners, had four and Wahl two.
Wahl, Rabadzhiev and Sauder each racked up 8 digs; Brayton Yoder had 7 and Nick Yutzy added 6 as they split libero duties. Tyler Dafoe led all players with 9 digs for Maranatha; he also led their team with 15 assists.
The Maple Leafs (12-5) started the match on a 4-0 run, used another to go up 13-7 and then won 10 of the last 11 points to take the opening set. Wahl served out the first two runs and Rabadzhiev served the final nine points.
A pair of Goshen errors left the Sabercats (1-8) with their first two points of the second set before a Phillip Holbrook ace tied things at 6. Gaby and Sauder hooked up on a block to put GC back in front and Wahl and Rabadzhiev assisted each other on two kills to run the lead to 10-7.
Goshen went on a 7-1 run to open a 20-12 lead late in the set before two Holbrook kills keyed a 6-1 MBU run to close within 22-20. Sauder added a kill and an ace in the last three points to close out the set.
The Maple Leafs opened a 7-3 lead in the third and never trailed, but never really put away Maranatha Baptist, either, leading by two points as late as 19-17. Rabadzhiev, Bennett and Insee Akarapan each had kills as the Leafs went on a late 4-1 run before Joel Plank added the last two kills of the match.
Plank and Akarapan added 3 kills each in limited action. Christian Rodriguez contributed a dig.
The Maple Leafs hit the road Wednesday night as they travel to Indiana Tech in a match with major Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference implications. The two teams played eight days earlier at GC and produced a four-setter that included a 33-31 first set. First serve is set for 7 p.m. in the Schaefer Center.
