TAYLOR RALLY FALLS SHORT AT GOSHEN
GOSHEN, Ind. – The Taylor volleyball team’s furious rally fell short as the Trojans dropped a Crossroads League contest at Goshen on Friday night in four sets.
Goshen (7-10, 1-6 CL) knocked off the Trojans for its first Crossroads League victory of the season on Friday evening. The Maple Leafs won the first two sets before the Trojans collected a win in set number three to extend the match before falling short in a marathon four set.
The Trojans (12-5, 5-3 CL) erased a 17-11 deficit in the fourth set, storming back to take a 21-20 lead before Goshen rallied for a 32-30 win to close out the match.
Taylor had won each of the previous eight match ups in the series with Goshen but the Maple Leafs jumped on TU early on Friday evening as Goshen scored the first four points of the match and dominated much of the opening set on the way to a 25-16 win.
Goshen maintained the momentum in the second set by scoring the first six points before the Trojans rallied to knot the set at 7-7. The teams traded blows until Goshen edged ahead by a 17-13 margin and held off a late TU rally for a 25-22 win.
The slow starts continued for Taylor in the third set as Goshen jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Taylor rallied by scoring 14 of the next 16 points to pull ahead by a 14-8 margin. Goshen regrouped and took a 19-17 lead but the Trojans responded as senior Rachel Bouma smashed home four kills and senior Laura Craig served an ace to propel TU to a 25-20 win.
Senior Becca Gerig led Taylor with 14 kills while Bouma tallied 13 and Callie Drage added nine terminations. Junior Haley Harrell coordinated the TU attack with 36 assists and added 18 digs while Gerig and sophomore Samantha Korn tallied 19 digs each.
Taylor struggled to a .090 hitting percentage in the contest while Goshen managed a .137 hitting percentage.
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Taylor and drops the Trojans into a tie with Grace for third place in the Crossroads League standings at 5-3.
The Trojans return to action tomorrow as TU travels to Mount Vernon Nazarene for a 3:00 pm showdown.