ADRIAN, Mich. — The Goshen College men's volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to Siena Heights University on Thursday night, falling 24-26, 25-17, 25-23, 25-20 to the Saints at the SHU Fieldhouse in a makeup match on the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference schedule.
Lucas Sauder led the Maple Leafs (13-7, 5-4) with 18 kills, but the team also accumulated 30 errors on 124 attempts for a .121 hitting percentage. Alexander Rabadzhiev added 11 winners and Elias Baer had 6. Rabadzhiev had a match-high 14 digs as well. Elias Baer led all players with 4 blocks including both GC solos.
Bryce Johnson added 18 kills for SHU (8-5, 4-4) ahead of the 13 from Alex Garavalia and 11 from Kevin Gomez. Keegan Crawford finished with 47 assists and 3 aces. The Saints almost doubled Goshen's hitting percentage at .224 with 53 winners.
Siena Heights ran out to an 8-4 lead on a pair of Johnson spikes in the first set, but Goshen came back to level the score at 12 on an attack error. Another 4-1 Saint run made it 17-14 before reeling things back in to take a 24-23 lead on Sauder's serve. Rabadzhiev finished the first set with a kill on the last point before extra points.
SHU again jumped in front to the tune of 10-5 and 15-7 in the second set, getting back-to-back blocks to register the latter lead. Goshen promptly countered by winning five of the next six rallies but never got within four points.
After a tie at one set all and 15-15, SHU won five straight points and seized control of the match. While the Maple Leafs tied the score again at 22 on four straight Saint errors, they never led and a Shevin Blades winner ended the set.
The hosts went up 5-0 in the final set and never looked back, holding Goshen to two points on its own serve.
The loss dealt a fatal blow to Goshen's hopes of hosting the WHAC tournament next month, an honor that is reserved for the conference champion. Either Indiana Tech or Lourdes will pick up a ninth league win when those two teams meet on Tuesday; Goshen's best possible finish is 8-4. The Maple Leafs can still finish as high as second in the conference.
The Maple Leafs will look to rebound Saturday, but the road doesn't get much easier as 10th-ranked Lourdes University comes calling in Ruth Gunden Gymnasium. First serve is set for 3 p.m. and Goshen will recognize its four seniors before the match.
