The Master's University women's volleyball team doesn't plan to dwell on Friday night's 3-1 loss to Hope International for an extended period of time. It doesn't have the luxury.
The No. 25-ranked Mustangs will host Life Pacific University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, less than 24 hours after they suffered the second of back-to-back Golden State Athletic Conference losses for the first time since 2017.
Hope won by scores of 25-21, 22-25, 28-26 and 25-22. But hours after the match, the Mustangs (7-7 overall, 2-2 in GSAC) had already moved on.
"Tonight was a tough loss, but as long as we keep thinking about it we won't be prepared for tomorrow's match," said senior Jane Cisar. "We just have to stay focused on the big picture and not get too frustrated about the individual losses."
Cisar had 14 kills for the Mustangs, second only to Regan Tate, who compiled 18. Katie Emmerling totaled a season-high 48 assists, and McKenna Hafner compiled 23 digs.
The match was decided in the third set, where the teams were tied at 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 before Hope scored the final two points.
The Royals (9-6, 3-2) went on an 8-2 run in the middle of the final set to take control and win their third straight match. Tate still found positives for the Mustangs.
"We talked about using this loss as a learning opportunity," she said. "So as a team we're doing a lot of personal and group reflection about how we played and what needs to change in order to clean up our game. We're pretty encouraged and excited to get a chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow."
