HUNTINGTON, Ind. — The Goshen College women's volleyball team won its first match of the 2021 season in a four-set triumph over Calumet College of St. Joseph on Saturday night, capping a four-match weekend at the Forester Invitational hosted by Huntington University in Platt Arena.
Emily Lynch posted 10 kills for Goshen while Emma Dippon and Maddy Beaver each contributed 9 in the victory. Naomi Willis led all players with 26 assists and Beaver registered a match-high 4 blocks.
In Saturday's opening match, a three-set loss to Mount Mercy University, Dippon led the team with 7 kills but the Mustangs hit .371 as a team and posted 43 winners to Goshen's 24.
Mount Mercy finished the tournament 3-1, trailing only the undefeated team from Lewis-Clark State. St. Ambrose and Huntington each went 2-2, while Goshen was 1-3 and Calumet 0-4.
MATCH 1: Mount Mercy def. Goshen 25-10, 25-19, 25-18 (box score)
Mount Mercy hit better than .500 in two of its three set wins, posting 15 kills in the first set and 19 in the third on its way to its first winning streak of the young season. Maggie Peters led all players with 10 kills while Olivia Makinen added 8 and had a hand in all three of her team's blocks.
The Mustangs galloped to a 9-2 first-set lead, getting three aces in that span, and used another 8-1 run later in the set to stretch the lead into double figures. Goshen saved a pair of set points, with Dippon picking up a kill, but a Cassidy Boche kill ended any thoughts of a comeback.
The Maple Leafs bounced back to win the first four points of set two, including a pair of Sadie Brenneman winners, but MMU opened a four-point lead by winning 12 of the next 16 rallies. GC trimmed the deficit to two before settling into a rhythm of trading points, which prevented them from falling behind but also from coming back as the score reached 22-19. Makinen and Boche added winners as the Mustangs won the last three points to close the set.
Hitting was on display in the third set as the teams combined for two attack errors. Goshen took an early 3-1 lead before another Mount Mercy run flipped the advantage to 10-6. Neither team won more than two consecutive points the rest of the way.
Goshen got 6 kills from Brenneman and a team-high 14 assists out of Willis. Christina Towne had the team's lone ace and matched Gwyn Bellamy with a team-high 5 digs.
MATCH 2: Goshen def. Calumet 25-21, 28-30, 25-19, 25-21 (box score)
Despite losing a marathon second set that stood as the longest stanza of the entire tournament, Goshen bounced back to win the third and fourth sets in the night's final match to come away with a victory for the first time in 2021.
The Maple Leafs hit at least .118 with 11 kills in all four sets, holding the Crimson Wave (0-4) to .090 or below in the three set wins. Goshen opened a 52-43 advantage in kills and a 10-2 mark in aces.
Calumet had the early edge with five of the first seven points before the Maple Leafs came back to tie the score at 9 and seize control with a 7-2 run. Calumet answered with a three-point run to get back within a point but never tied the score and a 6-1 Goshen run gave the purple and white team six set points.
Each team saved three set points in the second set, which started with a 7-2 Calumet lead that reached 13-8. Goshen ripped off five points in a row to tie the set, but then trailed 24-22 before taking its first lead at 25-24. The Crimson Wave saved two more set points and got their last three tallies on Goshen attack errors to level the match.
The Crimson Wave again surged to an early lead in the third set, but GC answered once more as Beaver had a kill and a block in a 5-0 run to take a 13-10 lead. Neither team won more than three points in a row the rest of the way, but Goshen ended on a 7-2 wave that included two Madison Coles kills to go up two sets to one.
The fourth set was finally Goshen's turn to pull ahead, breaking a 4-4 tie with a 6-1 spurt and adding a 5-0 run to go up 16-9. But right when it looked like GC might cruise to its first win in 26 tries, the Crimson Wave answered with an 8-2 run of its own and got back-to-back kills to close within 18-17.
Bellamy's kill and Jaelyn Amhdar's ace started a 5-1 GC run in response, though, putting the Maple Leafs two points away at 23-18. Each of the next five rallies ended in some kind of error, and at 10:14 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the Maple Leafs put away the win.
Amhdar added 17 assists off the bench while Coles chipped in three blocks. Brenneman recorded 13 digs to go with Towne's 12 and Bellamy's 11.
Up Next
Goshen is idle for more than a week before opening Crossroads League play on Wednesday, Sept. 1, with a home match against Marian University. The Knights are ranked 16th in the NAIA and off to a 4-0 start this season after finishing 2020-21 in the NAIA national tournament. First serve is set for 5 p.m. in Ruth Gunden Gymnasium. Please note the unusual start time, which facilitates a doubleheader with the women's soccer match that same evening.
Forester Invitational – Day 1 Scores
Mount Mercy def. Huntington 25-20, 25-22, 29-27
Lewis-Clark State def. Goshen 25-18, 25-14, 25-21
St. Ambrose def. Mount Mercy 25-19, 25-21, 24-26, 24-26, 15-12
Lewis-Clark State def. Calumet 25-9, 25-13, 25-16
St. Ambrose def. Goshen 17-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-19
Huntington def. Calumet 25-10, 26-24, 25-15
Forester Invitational – Day 2 Scores
Lewis-Clark State def. Huntington 25-18, 25-13, 25-21
Lewis-Clark State def. St. Ambrose 25-20, 25-20, 25-14
Mount Mercy def. Goshen 25-10, 25-19, 25-18
Mount Mercy def. Calumet 25-16, 30-28, 25-10
Huntington def. St. Ambrose 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-17
Goshen def. Calumet 25-21, 28-30, 25-19, 25-21
