After returning home following a three-week streak of away games, the Mustangs started Friday night's match strong.
Sophomore
Wyatt Bates secured a kill in the opening rally to give The Master's University the lead over the OUAZ Spirit. A series of errors helped the Mustangs stay ahead for the next several serves.
But that opening of the first set was the only point where TMU would hold the lead, as OUAZ would go on to hand the Mustangs a 3-0 loss inside the MacArthur Center. Set scores were 25-15, 25-12, and 25-17.
"The guys have a tendency to start well," said TMU head coach
Allan Vince. "We usually battle well to 10, but consistency is not there. That's where our opponents experience usually takes the lead."
Despite TMU's loss, Vince was encouraged by how the attitudes of the players are shaping the culture that will serve as the foundation of the men's volleyball program.
"They are creating something greater than themselves as individuals," Vince said. "I'm seeing just a lot of humility, I'm seeing a lot of iron sharpening iron. That's really special for me as a coach."
One such moment of unity came during the third and final set of the match when Vince called a timeout.
"He asked each of us what we wanted, and in that moment we had a sense of unity because we all said the exact same thing," Bates said.
Their answer: to take the game all the way to five sets and defeat the Spirit.
"It's kind of what got us to play for each other," TMU junior
Brett Norkus added.
Bates, who leads the Mustangs in aces for the season, served up two aces during the night, as well as securing the second-most kills with four. Season kill-leader
Brandon Botdorf led TMU for the night with five kills, along with an ace of his own.
"We're learning to score on the back line," Vince said.
But OUAZ answered back with its own strong serving game, with Spirit sophomore Conner Duyck serving back-to-back aces in the first set to take the lead from the Mustangs. Two other OUAZ players would go on to serve a pair of aces, which ultimately contributed to a total of eight Spirit aces -- over twice the number TMU secured.
"They were hitting their serves hard," Norkus said. "They had a couple guys who were just crushing some serves."
As the Mustangs prepare to hit the road again to take on the similarly-young Westcliff University program on Wednesday in Corona, California, Vince said TMU will be focused on its defense.
"We just need to follow the game plan more consistently," he said. "There's going to be a premium on defense next week in the gym."
