PARKVILLE, Mo. - The Goshen men's volleyball team started their 2026 season with the first of two days at the Pirate Invitational hosted by Park University. The Leafs lost their first match in three sets to Morningside (18-25, 14-25, 20-25) before falling in four sets against Ottawa (25-23, 15-25, 19-25, 18-25).
Goshen vs Morningside
The Mustangs led wire-to-wire in the first set, jumping off to an early 5-1 lead. The Leafs scored two of the first three points in the next set, but it was much of the same as the first. Morningside took the first set by seven and won the next set by an even greater 11-point margin. Goshen was down 7-4 in the third set when they rattled off four points in a row to go up 8-7 and force a Morningside timeout. The lead went back and forth, and Goshen scored three in a row later on to take a 17-16 lead. However, Morningside finished with a 9-3 run to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
Goshen had exactly eight kills and six attack errors in each set. The Mustangs had a particularly efficient second set, with 17 kills, two attack errors and a .536 hitting percentage. The Maple Leafs had six total blocks.
Ryan Kabrich had two solo blocks and
Bruno Barac and
Ben Koop had one each. Koop also had a block assist, as did
Sawyer Frystak.
Mathis Doladille totaled two block assists. The Leafs had a balanced attack, as those five individuals had at least four kills each. Doladille had a .571 hitting percentage and
Nash Hubick had 19 assists. Frystak led in aces with two and
Andrea Biffi in digs with six.
Goshen vs Ottawa
GC had their first set win of the season in a tight 25-23 first set against Ottawa. The Leafs consistently held a lead around three points for the start of the set and saw it grow to six at 15-9 after a kill from
Sawyer Frystak. The Braves had a run of their own to tie it at 17-17. Goshen had a 4-0 run yet Ottawa tied it up again at 23-23. The set ended with a kill from
Ryan Kabrich followed by a block from Kabrich and
Bruno Barac.
The Braves ended the second set on an 11-3 run to win by ten and ended the third set on a 12-6 run to win by six. They scored the final four points of the fourth set to win 25-18 and win the match 3-1.
Goshen had 15 kills in the first set but 20 in the next three combined. The Leafs had a .324 hitting percentage after the first but saw it dwindle to .146 by the end of the match. Blocking was yet again strong spot for Goshen. Kabrich had four block assists and a solo block.
Ben Koop and
Bruno Barac had two block assists each as well. Barac added nine kills and eight digs. Kabrich, Frystak and Koop each had seven kills - and Kabrich didn't have any attack errors and a strong .538 hitting percentage. Hubick finished with 30 assists and Koop totaled 14 digs. Kabrich ahd a pair of aces.
Goshen takes on Jamestown at 1:00 pm eastern on Saturday, followed by a matchup with #8 Park at 3:00 pm eastern later that afternoon.
