Two themes have emerged during The Master's University's first week of men's volleyball competition.
For one, the Mustangs have regularly welcomed ultra-competitive opponents to the MacArthur Center. And second, Master's has shown an ability to keep stride with said opponents for stretches before faltering, something to be expected as the Mustangs find their footing in this new venture.
Friday night against No. 5 Benedictine Mesa, the reigning NAIA national champion, the Mustangs hung close for the first half of each set before fading in what became a 3-0 loss by scores of 25-18, 25-15 and 25-19.
Wyatt Bates and
Brandon Botdorf each had seven kills to lead Master's, which fell to 0-3 both overall and in Golden State Athletic Conference play.
The Mustangs, playing their second NAIA top-10 opponent in three matches, didn't go down without a fight.
Before Benedictine created any breathing room, the score was tied 11-11 in set one; Master's was down 13-12 in set two; and the Mustangs trailed only 14-12 in set three.
On each occasion, Master's couldn't keep up with its high-powered guests over the long run, but TMU's performance gave the team confidence it will win the school's first men's volleyball match sooner rather than later.
"We had spurts of really good volleyball," Bates said. "We'd get a big block or a big kill then make an error and we went down. But if we stay up and keep playing hard, we can be really good. We had moments where they were frustrated, and that's the reigning national champ. So if we can scare them a little bit, we can beat some teams."
Bates said the Mustangs needed to do a better job of blocking on Saturday when they host the University of St. Katherine on Saturday at 7 p.m.
"Their outside got too many kills, our blocking was not quite there," Bates said.Â
Landon Fuller led Benedictine (4-6, 2-0 GSAC) with 12 kills and Bobby Henige followed with 10.Â
Jacob Hafner led TMU with nine assists, and
Ezra Moore added eight. Moore also had five kills and three blocks. Â
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