MOUNT VERNON, Ohio - The Maple Leafs men's volleyball team lost in five sets at Mount Vernon Nazarene on Saturday evening, still without Bruno Barac and Ishmail Bangura in the lineup. The Cougars won 25-21, 21-25, 16-25, 25-19, 20-18. Goshen is 1-3 in five-set matches this season, having lost the last three.

Both teams hit the ball well in the first set, combining for 27 kills, more than any other set. MVNU led by six on multiple occasions but the Leafs tied it at 21-21. Then the Cougars won the last four points with four straight kills - three from Jackson Bush.

Goshen overcame multiple three-point deficits in the second set and won the final three points, taking advantage of late attack errors from Mount Vernon. In the third set, they posted their best hitting percentage at .346 and MVNU had their worst at -.050, leading to a dominant 25-16 win.

The Leafs were up 5-1 in the fourth when the tides started to turn back in favor of the home team. The Cougars went on a 17-7 run and tied the match 2-2, forcing a fifth set. Like the first, both teams hit the ball well in the fifth. MVNU led 8-6 as the teams switched sides and they were up 12-9 when Goshen scored four straight. The teams traded points and Goshen had match point at 14-13. However, the Cougars would stop Goshen on four match points at 14-13, 15-14, 16-15 and 17-16. The Leafs stopped the Cougars once when they had match point at 18-17, but Mount Vernon scored when they needed to on their second effort, winning 20-18.

Alessandro Olgiati had 12 kills an no attack errors for the Leafs with a .522 hitting percentage. Sawyer Frystak had 16 kills and a .303 hitting percentage and Ben Koop led the team with 17 kills. The three combined for 45 of the team's 51 total kills. Avery Laforce finished with 40 assists. Jonathan Arias had 16 digs, Jaiden Wallace had four block assists and a solo block and Ben Koop had four aces.

Goshen is at Indiana Tech on Tuesday, March 18, at 7:00 pm. The Warriors are receiving votes in the NAIA coaches poll.