Men's volleyball falls to Hope in first-ever road match

One of the best things about the first two weeks of men's volleyball at The Master's University also made Friday night particularly difficult.

After four matches inside the MacArthur Center to open the year, the Mustangs went on the road for the first time Friday, and they couldn't take their electric home crowd with them.

Master's lost to Hope International, 3-0, by scores of 25-19, 25-18 and 25-18 in Fullerton. Wyatt Bates led the Mustangs with eight kills.

"It was definitely different because we don't have the Master's crowd with us," Bates said. "It was a good learning experience. We're still learning to rely on each other for excitement, and tonight we did a pretty good job at it, but it still needs to be better."

Joshua Nehls recorded 16 kills for Hope, which improved to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. Master's is 1-4 overall and 0-4 in GSAC play. The Mustangs will travel to Mira Costa College in Oceanside, California, on Saturday to play CETYS Mexicali and the University of St. Katherine.

It was against St. Katherine last week that Master's made history, securing its first-ever win in front of another energetic crowd.  

In unfamiliar territory for the first time, the Mustangs still managed to stay close to Hope in most statistical categories. Master's out-blocked the Royals and performed better from the service line, making a season-low seven service errors. But Hope scored at a much higher percentage than its visitors, and that was the difference.

The Royals hit .313 for the match. TMU hit .083.  

"My message to them afterward was that we need to have confidence in our ability to score and run our offense considering our passing was on tonight," said Master's head coach Allan Vince.

Despite a quick turnaround, Vince expects the Mustangs to rise to the challenge during Saturday's double-header. "We just have to exaggerate our communication and run our routes with focused outcomes," he said.

Ezra Moore and Jacob Hafner each recorded 12 assists for Master's, and Brett Norkus added five total blocks.  

The Mustangs will play CETYS Mexicali at 10 a.m. before taking on St. Katherine at 2. Both matches will have live video and stats on St. Katherine's Stretch Internet portal.