Goshen College

GOSHEN, Ind. - Women's volleyball faced the number 15 ranked Mount Vernon Nazarene as their third foray in conference action this season. Though they made an impressive comeback in set three and almost took the victory, they ended up falling to the Cougars 25-12, 25-16, and 25-23. 

It was a rough start for the Maple Leafs, as MVNU came out strong in the first set with a 7-0 run to start off the match.  The Leafs started to recover in the back half of the set, but had lost too much ground to the Cougars early on and were not able to fully stage their comeback. 

The second set started much more positively for the Leafs, with one of Carle Bruggema's three service aces landing to put GC off to an early lead — this ties a career high for Bruggema in aces. However, the Cougars soon took back the moment and grabbed another quick run of 4-0 to put themselves back on top. The Leafs grabbed points as they could, but were not able to reclaim the lead. 

The third set saw the Leafs back in fighting form once more, as they went point for point with the Cougars until the seven point mark, after which MVNU went on a 6-0 run and pulled away, similar to the other sets. However, in this case the Leafs answer with two quick 4-0 streaks, putting them right back in the battle. In the end, it was the difference of a few small errors that gave the set to the Cougars. 

For Mary Osten, this was a season high of digs for a three-set match — she picked up 17 on the night. Railynn Bowman had the best hitting percentage for the Leafs as well as tying for kill lead with Carmin Corey — they both had 9 tonight, which makes this the fifth match this season where Bowman earned nine or more kills. 

The Maple Leafs are back in action on Saturday Sep. 12 at 1 p.m. for another Crossroads League matchup. They are headed just down the road to start off U.S. Highway 20 Cup action for the Leafs this year as they venture to Mishawaka to face the Pilots of Bethel University.