MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The Maple Leafs men's volleyball team spoiled Senior Day in Mount Vernon with a five-set victory over the Cougars after losing on Friday evening.

The Maple Leafs dropped the first set, but came back to win the second set 25-19 and the third 25-22. After back-to-back sets with more attack errors than kills, the Cougars had a stong 25-17 win in the fourth set to tie the match and send it to a fifth.

Goshen had a two-point lead at 7-5, but trailed by two later on and took a timeout when it was 13-11 in favor of Mount Vernon Nazarene. Hasan Hadzic had a kill to cut the deficit to one, but a net violation gave MVNU match point at 14-12. However, the next Cougars serve went into the net, and then Ishmail Bangura had a kill on the next play to tie it at 14.

The Cougars used a timeout and responded with a kill from Luke Funte after numerous stops at the night by Goshen. But Bangura answered back again with another kill to make it 15-15. The teams traded points once again with kills from Funte and Juan Llama, and then Bangura's kill put Goshen up 17-16.

MVNU used their second timeout, but Bangura had an impressive dig on the next play that led up to a pass from Wyatt Bollinger and a kill by Christian Rodriguez. The Maple Leafs won the set 18-16 and travel back to Indiana with a 3-2 win.

Four Goshen players had 10 or more digs - Christian Rodriguez (14), Ishmail Bangura (12), Wyatt Bollinger (11), and Pablo Sanchez (10). As a team, the Maple Leafs had 15 more digs than the Cougars. Hasan Hadzic led the attack with 24 kills and a .341 hitting percentage. Bangura added 18 kills and Rodriguez had seven. Wyatt Bollinger had a season-high 53 assists and Andy Bennett led the team with five block assists.

This was just the second home loss of the season for the Cougars, a team receiving votes in the NAIA coaches poll with a 16-6 record currently. Goshen is 5-10 in the WHAC and is chasing Cornerstone, the current six-seed, for the final spot in the conference tournament. The Golden Eagles are 7-8 in league play.

Goshen has three more regular season matches this season. They are at #13 Indiana Tech on Tuesday, March 21, at 7:00 pm. Then the Leafs are at home on Friday against Siena Heights and on Saturday against Lawrence Tech for Senior Day.