SYLVANIA, Ohio – The Maple Leafs nearly took down #8 Lourdes in Ohio on Saturday afternoon. Goshen fell in five sets in the even matchup for the second time this season. Lourdes won 25-27, 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 18-16.
 
Goshen led 22-19 in the first set until Lourdes rattled off five straight points to get to set point. Jeff Lam was serving and had two aces during the stretch for the Gray Wolves, but he also had a service error that sailed high and kept Goshen alive. Later, Lucas Sauder had an ace for Goshen as the Leafs scored five of six and won the set 27-25.
 
Lourdes controlled the second set – the closest Goshen got was when they were down 13-11. The third set was tight until the home team pulled away late to win 25-21 and pull within a set from the win.
 
The Leafs were consistently within a point or two in the fourth set. Lam had back-to-back kills to send Lourdes up 23-22, but a service error made it 23-23. The Gray Wolves followed that with an attack error, and then a kill by Alexander Rabadzhiev from Michael Wahl ended the set, with GC winning 25-23.
 
Goshen scored the first two points in the final stanza and maintained that lead for most of the set. Lucas Sauder had a kill to put the Leafs at match point with a 14-12 lead. Lourdes tied it up, and Sauder gave Goshen a third opportunity to take the match with another kill. Lam responded with two kills, and head coach Lauren Ford took a timeout. With the Gray Wolves a point away from winning the match, Sauder had yet another crucial kill, this time from Brayton Yoder. However, Eduardo Ayala sealed the deal for Lourdes. He had a kill and followed it with his sixth ace of the match. Lourdes won the set 18-16.
 
The Leafs also took Lourdes to five sets in Goshen this season. Lourdes was #5 at the time when the teams played on February 5. Lourdes has won four straight games and improved to 15-4 this season and 10-2 in the WHAC.
 
Sauder finished with 24 kills and 15 digs – both career-highs for the senior. He had a hitting percentage of .308. Wahl also had career highs - he tallied 55 assists and 16 digs. The senior recently passed 3,000 career digs earlier in the week. Rabadzhiev also had a double-double performance with 22 kills and ten digs, hitting at a .354 clip. Yoder was the fourth Maple Leaf player to have double-digit digs, with 12. Ian Fox had eight digs and four blocks.
 
The teams had 66 kills each, and Lourdes had one more assist than Goshen. GC had a 62-58 advantage in the digs category. The differentiator was aces. Ayala had six aces for Lourdes, whereas Goshen had just two as a team.
 
Goshen (19-8, 6-6 WHAC) has two matches remaining in their regular-season schedule. On Wednesday, March 23, they play at Mount Vernon Nazarene at 7:00 pm. Then Saturday, Match 26, is Senior Day. The Maple Leafs challenge Cornerstone at 3:00 pm in Gunden Gymnasium that day. Tickets can be purchased here.