SAINT MARY OF THE WOODS, Ind. - The GC women's volleyball team has already doubled their win total from a year ago, and we are only six games into the season. Now at 4-2, the Leafs went 2-1 on day one of the Showdown in the Woods held at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. After losing 3-0 to the host, they returned to defeat Brescia in three sets and Midway in five sets after losing the first two.

The Pomeroys had a robust 25-11 second set against the Leafs, but Goshen kept the first and third sets closer at 25-21 and 25-20. Emily Lynch and Christina Towne each had three block assists in the match. Gwyn Bellamy had a second straight game with ten kills - the first time she has done so in her collegiate career. Kassidy Faler had a fourth consecutive match with ten digs, and Kelsie Hankins put up 17 assists.

Goshen battled through a challenging 28-26 first set against Brescia, coming out on top. The Leafs had just three attack errors in the final two sets combined, winning 25-14 and 25-21. Goshen's seven total attack errors are their fewest in a match since August 25, 2018, against Columbia International. The Maple Leafs had an astounding .436 hitting percentage for the match - also their best since that same Columbia International match. Lastly, GC had 15 aces - their most in a match since putting down 20 against Great Lakes Christian on October 20, 2017.

Sadie Brenneman had seven of the aces. She leads all Crossroads League players this season with 0.90 aces per set. Brenneman, Lynch, Bellamy and Bailee Brown all had a hitting percentage of .400 or better. Hankins had 25 assists.

The third match of the day for the purple and white was the most exciting. Starting at 9:00 pm eastern, the Maple Leafs lost the first two sets to Midway by decent margins - 25-17 and 25-18. But in the third set, Goshen turned the tide with a 25-11 win. The team had 13 kills in that set with one attack error and a .545 hitting percentage.

Goshen was in the driver's seat from the third set on - hardly ever losing the lead. They controlled the third and fifth sets wire-to-wire. They won the final two stanzas, 25-17 and 15-9.

Lynch totaled 20 kills in the match and had a .457 hitting percentage. Hankins guided the offense with 45 assists. Four players had double-digit digs for Goshen - Alaina Wolfe, Brenneman, Hankins and Faler.

For the second day of the Showdown in the Woods, the Maple Leafs face Alice Lloyd College at 1:00 pm and IUPUC at 3:00 pm.