The Master's University Beach Volleyball team split a pair of Golden State Athletic Conference matches on Friday in Glendale, Arizona to kick off the 2021 season. The Mustangs lost narrowly to Ottawa University Arizona, 2-3, before rebounding to sweep hosts Arizona Christian, 4-0, in the afternoon.
TMU's number one pairing of
Desi Brown and
Katie Emmerling, along with number four duo
Caihannah-Jane Catabona and
Gwen Garate, won both of their matches on the day. Brown was an All-GSAC performer for the Mustangs in 2020.
"Our one and four pairs were undefeated for the day, which was inspiring for our entire squad," Master's head coach
Annett Davis said.
Against OUAZ, Brown and Emmerling lost the first set against Viri Serrano and Brittany Western, 18-21, but won the final two sets 21-18 and 15-9. In similar fashion, Catabona and Garate dropped their first set to Katelyn Viray and Emma Overfelt, before storming back to win in three: 19-21, 21-15, 15-12.
The Spirit won the other three matchups to take a 3-2 victory. Despite the loss, Davis was pleased with her team's performance.
"We came out strong and had a great start," Davis said. "OUAZ is a strong team, so losing 3-2 was still impressive."
In the Mustangs' second team match of the day, TMU's top pairing of Brown and Emmerling defeated Adi Dolan and Maddie Lapierre of ACU, 21-13 and 21-14.
Kasie Spencer and
Hannah Douglas, the Mustangs' number two duo, took down Natalia Carruthers and CeAirra Bowman (21-18, 21-13) before
Chloe Johnson and
Tara Delk beat Aubri Green and Rebecca Nowak at number three (21-19, 21-17).
At number four, Catabona and Garate then repeated their comeback from the first match. After losing the first set against Amaya Brown and Delaney Gill, 13-21, Catabona and Garate won the final two sets handily, 21-6 and 15-6.
Only four Mustangs' pairings played against the Firestorm because ACU didn't have enough players to form a fifth duo.
The Mustangs (1-1) return home to the TMU Beach Volleyball Complex on Feb. 20 when Master's hosts Vanguard (2-0) at 10 a.m. and Hope International (0-1-1) at 1 p.m. in GSAC action.
