Published: October 07, 2009 11:09 am      

Redskins trim Bruins in ‘Spike for Cure’ special

Perhaps it was a “spiking it for the cure” theme which fired up the Goshen High School girls volleyball team.

Whatever, the Lady Redskins defeated the Bethany Christian Bruins 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 Tuesday night at GHS.

Both teams wore pink uniforms as the evening was a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

“The girls were excited about the event,” Goshen coach Kera Maure said. “A couple girls even did something on G-TV (in-school television station) about it. It was nice to have a good crowd here and the JV did a great job of cheering on the varsity. Our emotions were awesome.”

Goshen held the lead most of the night in all three close games.

“Something we have been talking to the girls about is defeating a team soundly,” Maure said. “Bethany had the lead for a little while, but we came back which has not always been the case.”

Goshen (12-18) hosts Elkhart Memorial and Bethany (15-9) visits Clinton Christian, both on Thursday.

“We knew coming in Goshen was going to be scrappy on defense,” Bethany coach Lois Mast said. “We needed to have better passes and our defense did not do good.

“The latter parts of the second and third sets we played better, but we had a hard time getting the block on No. 31 (GHS senior Olivia Zepeda). We knew she wanted to hit to the right side of the court, but we couldn’t get there in time.”

Zepeda finished with a match-high 11 kills while senior Jordyn Myers added six.

“Olivia hit well and so did Myers,” Maure said.

Goshen’s defense was led by junior Kaitlyn Troyer 19 digs, Myers 18 and sophomore Julie Jesse 13.

“Our defense has been doing good,” Maure said. “We did not have many dropped balls. Losing a close match to Angola (23-25, 25-19, 25-13, 24-26, 16-14) on Monday helped us dominate tonight.”

The Redskin defense slowed one of Bethany main hitters — senior Kate Steury.

“She sprained an ankle and has not gotten her rhythm back yet,” Mast said.

The Redskins were leading 21-18 in Game 1 before back-to-back kills by Bethany junior Marla zumFelde made it 21-20. Goshen went up 24-21 on a block by junior Liz Kleinsmith before winning when Bethany couldn’t return a ball.

In the second contest, Goshen jumped out to a 7-1 lead as Kleinsmith served six straight points, including consecutive aces. Bethany closed the gap, but Goshen held on to the lead. Junior Cassi Cook served the final point and sophomore Julie Jesse was credited with the kill.

The third game started the same way with Goshen holding a 12-4 advantage on a block by Cook and Kleinsmith. Bethany charged back and took a 19-18 lead on a tip by zumFelde. Kills by Zepeda gave the Redskins a 22-20 lead. The Bruins got two kills from zumFelde to tie the score 23-23. Another kill by Zepeda made it 24-23 and Myers served the match-winning point.

zumFelde had 10 kills and two blocks and junior Maundy Schlabach 14 assists to lead the Bruins.

Goshen Leaders

Bethany Leaders