GOSHEN, Ind. - After being a set down in their season opener, the Goshen men's volleyball team rallied to take the following three sets and win 19-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-22. This was the first win for Jeff Phillips as head coach of the men's program.

The Maple Leafs won five of the first six points in the match but had seven first-set attack errors compared to one for the Muskies. In the next set, Goshen won six of the first seven points. This time, they held onto their lead. Lakeland had six service errors in the set, and GC improved their hitting percentage.

Goshen jumped to an early lead again in the third and never lost it despite fairly even play from both teams. The fourth set went back and forth, but Goshen closed it out by winning seven of the final nine points and taking the set 25-22.

With the win, Phillips joins Lexa Magnuson, Lauren Ford and Jewel Lehman as coaches to have won their first match as head coach of Goshen's men's volleyball program. This was just the third time the Maple Leafs had faced Lakeland in any sport and the first win. The Muskies won in women's basketball in 1996 and men's basketball in 2005.

In his second season at Goshen, Hasan Hadzic started the year off strong with 18 kills and five aces.  Lakeland had three aces combined. Freshman setter Avery Laforce totaled 36 assists with five digs and two aces. Pablo Sanchez went for 16 digs. Goshen had six solo blocks - two from Ian Fox and Ishmail Bangura and one from Ben Koop and Hadzic. The Muskies had nine more digs, but the Leafs had 12 more kills and 11 more assists.

Five of Goshen's first seven games of the season are at home. The next match is on Tuesday, January 30, at 7:00 pm against Calumet College of St. Joseph.