In a clash of cross-county rivals, the Goshen Eagles volleyball team defeated the Charles Henderson Trojans in dramatic come-from-behind fashion Thursday, winning 3-2 by scores of 17-25, 24-26, 25-15, 27-25 and 15-12.

Goshen head coach Dee Hughes said the team felt like it had something to prove, which helped it to make the comeback.

“We were in the huddle and we were talking about how we felt like we haven’t gotten the respect in this county compared to some other teams,” Hughes said. “I told the girls to just go out and show people that they work hard and that they’re a very good volleyball team.”

Charles Henderson (11-4, 3-2) looked as if it would dominate early on, winning the first game 25-17 to take a 1-0 lead.

The Trojans were able to win the second game 26-24 in extra points to take a 2-0 lead, and put the Eagles’ backs against the wall.

Goshen would come out firing in the third game, however. The Eagles took a 5-0 lead early on and never looked back, cruising to a 25-15 win the cut the Trojans lead to 2-1.

In the fourth game, the Trojans jumped out to a 17-7 lead, and appeared to be headed for a 3-1 victory.

However, Goshen battled back once again, eventually tying the game at 24. Charles Henderson scored to take a 25-24 lead and force match point, but the Eagles responded with a 3-0 run that gave them a 27-25 win and forced a decisive fifth game.

Smartt returned for the fifth game, but it was to no avail, as Goshen scored the match’s final four points to win the fifth game 15-12 and take home the victory in the match.

A key component of the win for Goshen was the play of the Eagle bench.

“Our bench really stepped up at critical times in that ball game,” Hughes said. “Alli Warrick came in and was big for us. She really stepped in and served it well. I was really proud of our bench as a whole.”

Warrick had four aces off of the bench for Goshen, while Shelby-Jo Vinson and Caneshia Whatley led the way in kills with 18 and 11, respectively.

For Charles Henderson, head coach Jennifer Sikes said the Trojans’ inefficiency in serving was the primary reason for the loss.

“Serves killed us,” Sikes said. “We had 16 missed serves in the five games, and that was our weakness tonight. Goshen’s girls on the net did a really good job of tipping the ball, and we just weren’t covering that as good as we should have been. We peaked, and then we just kind of dropped off.”

Rust also appeared to be an issue for CHHS, as the match was the first for the Trojans in over a week.

“We didn’t gel tonight like we have been doing,” Sikes said. “Part of it was probably us taking a week off because of testing. This is the first match we’ve had since then. A big part of it was that we just didn’t play as much as we had been doing before tonight.” Becca Hartley led CHHS with 13 points and six aces, while Nick Jones added 12 points and three aces.