By James Costello Sports Writer
PLYMOUTH — It was Senior Night at Plymouth, and the Lady Pilgrims fast-forwarded to the festivities, making short work of visiting Goshen in three games 25-19, 25-11, 25-23 Thursday at The Rock.
Plymouth’s seniors claimed the spotlight not only in the post-match celebration, but on the court as well.
Middle hitter Chelsea Benge put in her usual strong performance at the net with a match-high 11 kills, two solo blocks and three block assists, while fellow seniors Carly Plumlee and Cortnee Kelly pounded out eight and six kills, respectively, in the Northern Lakes Conference win. Plumlee also recorded a pair of aces and a pair of block assists, while Nicole Scheetz distributed another match-high 18 assists, and Megan Martindale recorded an assist in her first start with the Pilgrims. The only senior whose name wasn’t in the Plymouth stat book was Dani McPherron, who was sidelined with an injury Thursday.
“Just a great Senior Night,” said Plymouth head coach Walt Pickerell. “All of them got to play a lot. I just wish that Dani McPherron hadn’t been injured; she could’ve gotten some playing time tonight too. Any match you win or lose with your seniors, and our seniors did a good job tonight.”
The Pilgrims fell behind early in the opener, but regrouped with an 11-1 spurt —highlighted by a pair of kills from Plumlee as well as both of freshman middle hitter Andria Shook’s two aces for the night — that gave the home team a commanding 17-12 lead, then rode the momentum to a 25-19 win in the opener and a 25-11 victory in the second game.

Goshen was initially han-dicapped by the absence of its libero defender, who had to sit out the first  game after forgetting a kneepad, and by the time the Redskins were able to battle back in the third game it was too late.
“We started off the entire day with my libero not being able to start the first game,” said Goshen head coach Kera Maure. “I think that was frustrating, and I think it affected the whole match because the momentum is completely lost there.”
Maure also said her players seemed intimidated as they struggled with hitting errors throughout the night.
“In all honesty, I think we’re scared of NLC teams,” she said. “Every single time we play an NLC team we never play as well as when we play another team.”
Goshen made a battle of the final game, even swapping leads twice with the hosts, but a Plumlee ace and kills from Kelly and Benge put the match away 25-23.
After the match was over, the seniors paraded out with their parents and were presented with flowers while underclassmen read their reminiscences and advice to younger players over the microphone. Some players and several parents teared up as the Pilgrims seniors made their final bows at the last home match of their careers.
“Great group of seniors,” said Pickerell. “Not all of them got to be starters, but they all played well together and worked together. The whole team had a good cohesiveness. They just liked being with each other.”
While the seniors took center stage at Thursday’s match, they got plenty of help from the underclassmen in making their Senior Night a winning one. Freshman Shook recorded two aces and two kills, while classmate Amber Redinger had a kill, Lindsay Renz made nine digs, and Meagan Barron set up 10 assists.
For Goshen, Katlyn Troyer led in both kills and digs with four and 15, respectively, while Elisabeth Kleinsmith tallied eight assists. Cassi Cook put away three kills to complement  two blocks for the Redskins.
While Goshen slides to  10-14 on the year and 1-5 in the conference, the Pilgrims improve to 14-12 with a 3-2 NLC mark. They’ll take the court this weekend at the South Bend Adams Tournament before hitting the road once more for a match with South Bend St. Joseph’s Monday.
• PLYMOUTH 3,
  GOSHEN 0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-23)
At Plymouth
Plymouth stats
Kills: Chelsea Benge 11, Carly Plumlee 8, Cortnee Kelly 6
Blocks: Benge 2, 3 assists; Plumlee 2 assists
Aces: Plumlee 2, Andria Shook 2
Assists: Nicole Scheetz 18, Meagan Barron 10
Digs: Lindsay Renz 9
Goshen stats
Kills: Katlyn Troyer 4, Cassi Cook 3
Blocks: Cook 2
Assists: Elisabeth Kleinsmith 8, Jordyn Myers 5
Digs: Troyer 15, Julie Jesse 10
Records: Plymouth 14-2, 3-2 NLC; Goshen 10-14, 1-5 NLC
JV score: Plymouth 2, Goshen 0 (25-19, 25-21)
JV record: Plymouth 15-7