GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Although they were a point away from winning the third set, the Goshen men's volleyball team lost in three sets against Cornerstone on day one of a two-day stint against WHAC opponents in Grand Rapids. Goshen plays Aquinas on Saturday.
The teams were tied at 15 in the first set when Cornerstone went on a 4-0 run that ended with a serve just over the head of
Pablo Sanchez, going out of bounds. The Leafs were down one at 21-20, but from that point on the teams traded points and the Golden Eagles won 25-23. Both teams were efficient on the attack in the first set. Cornerstone had a .417 hitting percentage and Goshen was at .333.
It was 7-7 when Cornerstone went on a 6-1 run in the second set. The lead extended to eight points at 23-15 when Goshen answered with five points in a row.
Andy Bennett had two kills,
Ishmail Bangura had a kill,
Wyatt Bollinger had two assists, and Bangura had an ace during that stretch. GC cut the lead to three, but Cornerstone finished the set with a 25-21 win.
The Golden Eagles led 8-3 early in the third, but Goshen would turn the set around. Due to numerous attack and service errors from the home team, the Maple Leafs tied it at ten and came back from a three-point deficit to tie it at 18. Despite being down for most of the set, Goshen went up 24-22 when a serve from
Pablo Sanchez was just inside the line, resulting in an ace.
The Golden Eagles called a timeout, and they came back in full force. They scored the next four straight points, including a block by Hubert Sliwinski and Andrew Galanes to tie it at 24, and won the set 26-24 and the match 3-0.
The Goshen attack was balanced between
Ishmail Bangura,
Christian Rodriguez,
Leo Minetto and
Andy Bennett. All four had at least six kills each.
Wyatt Bollinger had all 27 GC assists.
Pablo Sanchez led the team with six digs. Cornerstone had nine more service errors than Goshen, but their hitting percentage was .166 higher than the Leafs. Cornerstone is receiving votes in the most recent NAIA coaches poll.
Goshen takes on another team receiving votes on Saturday, February 18, when they challenge Aquinas. The match is set to begin at 3:00 pm.
