ADRIAN, Mich. - Goshen nearly had their second road reverse sweep in a span of 14 days, but Siena Heights overcame a three-point fifth-set deficit to win 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 17-25, 15-13.
Although the teams were tied 6-6 in the first, Siena Heights had a couple of 4-0 runs on their way to winning the set by five. Goshen scored five straight early in the next set to take a four-point deficit to a one-point lead. The Saints would build a seven-point lead, and while Goshen stopped them a few times at set point, they went on to win by five again.
Down 10-12 in the third, Goshen rattled off seven straight points. Four came from
Bruno Barac in the form of aces, two were kills from
Ben Koop and the other was a service error on the Saints. Goshen was up five after that, but the home team would fight back to go up 23-22 late. However, Goshen scored four of the last five points in the set and back-to-back kills from Koop ended it.
SHSU led 11-7 in the fourth, but the rest of the set was all Goshen. The Leafs won 18 of the last 24 points to win by eight and had all the momentum in their direction. The Saints had 11 attack errors in the set compared to two for the Leafs. Goshen had never had a reverse sweep on the road in their first 2,209 days as a program. Now they were a set away from having two in a span of 14 days.
Goshen reached eight points first as the teams switched sides and the lead increased to three at 10-7 and then at 11-8. Yet the home team came through and won seven of the last nine points, with service errors being the only points they didn't score in that stretch.
The Leafs did better on the serve, with eight fewer service errors and one more ace than Siena Heights. The Saints had more kills, assists and a better hitting percentage.
Ben Koop had 20 kills and a .441 hitting percentage for Goshen. He had six digs, three aces and a block assist.
Sawyer Frystak had nine kills, five block assists and four digs.
Bruno Barac filled the stat sheet with five kills, six aces, six digs and six block assists.
Pablo Sanchez led the team with eight digs.
Igor Sapucaia had 34 assists, six digs and five block assists.
Goshen is at Lourdes on Friday, February 21, at 7:00 pm for their next contest.
