The accomplishment might have come nearly a year ago had COVID-19 not wiped The Master's University men's volleyball team's final five conference matches off the schedule in 2020.
But the Mustangs took an important step Friday night nonetheless, taking down Arizona Christian, 3-1, in Glendale, Ariz. It was the first Golden State Athletic Conference win in the program's brief history, and it may help unlock many more in the days, months and years to come.
"Our first GSAC win felt amazing," said sophomore Brandon Botdorf. "The team consensus was that we had the talent and determination to compete, but it was going to take mental toughness and focus to finish. Now that we were able to do that, we feel like there is no ceiling to what we can do."
Botdorf had a team-high 13 kills for the Mustangs (1-2, 1-0 GSAC). He also capped an impressive rally to win set two.
Down 23-22 in a back-and-forth set that included 14 ties, TMU gathered itself and took command of the match.
It started with a Wyatt Bates kill. Then Bates stepped to the service line and dropped in an ace. Botdorf finished the comeback with his seventh kill of the night.
It was a critical breakthrough for a Mustang team that played well in its first two matches despite losing close second sets that swung momentum.
"The guys showed they had the fight to finish," said Jared Goldberg, who earned his first win as Mustang head coach in the process. "We talked about that quite a bit this past week as we have had two sets in our last two matches that we couldn't finish. Tonight the guys were on the other side of it and found a way to get it done even though it wasn't pretty at times."
Bates finished with 10 kills, and Ben Herb added eight. Botdorf, Ryan Fooks and Brett Norkus had four blocks each.
Ezra Moore had 33 assists for TMU, which picked itself up after dropping set three and cruised in the night's final set.
"We played our game and it showed," Moore said. "I'm super excited for what's to come."
The Mustangs will play OUAZ in Surprise, Ariz., on Saturday at 11 a.m. PST. Live stats and video will be available. OUAZ charges for the video.
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