MOUNT VERNON, Ohio — Alexander Rabadzhiev led Goshen College with 16 kills and Lucas Sauder hit almost .400 Wednesday night as the Maple Leaf men's volleyball team picked up its second Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference win of the season in a four-set victory over Mount Vernon Nazarene at Ariel Arena. GC won 25-19, 24-26, 25-18, 25-21.
Goshen, the 13th-ranked team in the NAIA coaches poll, outblocked the Cougars 16-10 and hit .198 while holding its host to .020. Sauder added 15 kills while Elias Baer, Andy Bennett, Michael Wahl, Sauder and Rabadzhiev all added three blocks. Brayton Yoder led the team with 13 digs and Rabadzhiev added 10.
Mount Vernon Nazarene (1-4, 1-4) got 17 kills and 13 digs from Spencer Stanley to lead all players. Landon Ewers added 10 winners and Jonathan Champlin chipped in 4 blocks.
Goshen (5-3, 2-1) used a 5-0 run to snatch control of the second set and went up 17-10 on another 5-2 spurt. MVNU got back within three points at 20-17 on a Jaysen Matsumoto ace but could do no better than trading points over the next four rallies.
Each team had its runs in the second set, with the Cougars going up 10-9 on three Goshen errors before the Maple Leafs bounced back to win seven of nine rallies for a 19-15 lead. A Sauder kill produced a sideout which led to an MVNU attack error to put Goshen ahead 22-17 before the Cougars finished the set on a 9-2 run to level the match.
The Leafs bounced back to go up 7-3 in the third set before the Cougars ripped off four straight points to tie the score. MVNU never actually led as Goshen went on an 11-6 run to go back up 5 at 18-13. After trading a pair of points, GC won six of the next eight to end the set on a Rabadzhiev block. In the third set, MVNU finished with more errors than kills.
Mount Vernon Nazarene jumped in front in the fourth set, breaking a 2-2 tie with a kill and an ace before reeling off four kills and two blocks all in a row to go up 10-4. The Maple Leafs did not answer immediately, instead using an 8-3 run to get back within 14-13, then following that with a 7-1 run that included two Rabadzhiev aces. Sauder had two kills and Bennett one in the final five points after the Goshen lead was cut to 21-20.
Goshen's scheduled match this Thursday against Cornerstone has been moved due to fixture congestion as the Maple Leafs were slated to play five times in three days. Those two teams will now meet on Saturday, Feb. 20, at Ruth Gunden Gymnasium and the Maple Leafs will return to action on Friday at the Judson University Early Bird Invitational: Goshen opens the two-day event by facing Lincoln at 1 p.m. before meeting the hosts three hours later.
