As the Mustangs reeled off nine straight wins to open the season, all the while believing they could play with the nation's best, this weekend loomed as the measuring stick.
The Master's University women's volleyball team was slated to play three of the NAIA's top five teams and another ranked in the top 15 on Friday and Saturday in Columbia, Mo.
Well, TMU showed up in a big way on the final day of the Hampton Inn Classic, beating No. 14 Columbia College in a true road match and taking the No. 1 team in the country to five sets in the nightcap on Saturday.
Against No. 1 Lindsey Wilson (8-2), the Mustangs (10-3) held on to win game four, 25-23, to force the final race to 15, which the Blue Raiders won 15-4.
Still, to get one set off the Blue Raiders, let alone two, was more than a lot of teams were able to do in 2017. Lindsey Wilson lost five sets all of last season on its way to an undefeated championship.
Madi Fay (13 kills), Regan Tate (11 kills) and Jane Cisar (11 kills) made sure the Blue Raiders' path wouldn't be so seamless Saturday, as the Mustangs took game one, 25-23, before dropping games two and three (25-17, 25-20).
The loss in set five hardly dampened the day.
Against Columbia, the match didn't go past game four - the Mustangs winning 25-20, 25-13, 24-26 and 25-22.
Tate led the way with 14 kills. She did it on 24 attempts and a .417 hitting percentage.
Cisar followed with 12 kills, and Fay added 11 kills.
Autumn Stevens and Chloe Emory each had nine kills in the Mustangs' most impressive performance to date, one that likely will earn them a look when it comes to the next NAIA top 25 poll.
McKenna Hafner added 22 digs. And setters Kayla Sims and Sarah Park continued to play as a productive pair, with Sims recording 25 assists against Columbia and Park putting up 20.
Sims, who totaled 76 assists over the four-games in Missouri, was named to the all-tournament team.
