Annett Davis did not wish to overanalyze the Mustangs' loss to CSUN on Saturday morning. There was a pressing matter at hand – namely a match against Cal State Los Angeles – and The Master's University's beach volleyball coach did not believe a drawn-out speech was necessary to motivate her group.
"I didn't pull them together for a talk," she said. "We moved on and handled business."
That they did.
The Mustangs beat Cal State Los Angeles 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Matador Beach Volleyball Complex in Northridge, California, in another display of the team's abundant depth.
TMU's No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 teams each won to lift the Mustangs to 3-4 on the year.
Master's lost to CSUN, 5-0, in the morning, but the defeat did not set the course for the rest of the day.
Emilye Grace Williams and
Caihannah-Jane Catabona, TMU's No. 3 team, won their match against the Golden Eagles, 21-14 and 21-11. Williams saw it as a vast turnaround from the pair's performance Friday against OUAZ and Vanguard.
"We had to be a lot smarter on our shots and much more proactive on defense," she said. "We had to find the holes in the other team's defense. Our serving was also key to get them out of system."
TMU's
Rebecca Swenning and
Kasie Spencer prevailed 21-18 and 21-10 in a matchup of the afternoon's No. 4 teams. Swenning, who was impressed by Spencer's defensive plays, said the match was a matter of remaining consistent.
"We didn't need to do anything fancy except hit our shots," she said.
For
Chloe Johnson and
Hannah Douglas, the Mustangs' No. 5 team, victories by scores of 21-8 and 21-10 came because of their precision.
"We minimized our errors and were accurate with the placement of our swings and shots," Johnson said. "Our offense was consistent, and we kept serving hard all the way through the match."
In the morning, Johnson and Douglas pushed their opponents from CSUN to a third set. That Lauren Eknoian and Meagan Carter ultimately won 15-8 in the deciding frame did not detract from the fact that Master's made the match closer than its 5-0 score.
TMU's No. 1 team of
Katie Emmerling and
Desi Elizondo lost one of their sets 21-19. So did
Kylie Brown and
Ketty Totemeier.
The Mustangs will now travel to Glendale, Arizona, to face Arizona Christian and Benedictine Mesa in Golden State Athletic Conference matches on Friday.
