The Master's University men's volleyball team claimed the first set against a nationally-rated opponent for the second time this season, but fell to 11th-ranked Ottawa University Arizona in four sets (25-23, 25-27, 21-25, 13-25) on Saturday in Surprise, Arizona.
"The guys played a really good first two-and-a-half sets," Master's head coach
Jared Goldberg said. "It was fought back and forth."
Trailing 21-23 in the opening set, TMU won the final four points to claim the first set by two. After dropping a closely-contested second set, the Mustangs looked poised to re-take their lead in the match. But with Master's ahead 21-18, OUAZ won seven-straight points to take a two-set-to-one lead.
"The end of the second set was close and we battled back in the third," Goldberg said. "It was neck-and-neck. We went up a little bit, but just couldn't finish."
The Spirit continued its momentum in the following set to claim the match in four.
"We were up and down and are just trying to be a little more consistent," Goldberg said. "We're trying to play complete matches rather than just parts of sets. We're still working to get it all together."
Ben Herb paced the Mustang attack with 15 kills, while
Brett Norkus recorded 10 kills of his own on an impressive .474 attack %.
Ezra Moore led TMU in both assists (37) and digs (10).
Master's falls to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Mustangs have almost two weeks until their next games, when TMU hosts Arizona Christian University (0-2, 0-2) on March 5 and Ottawa University Arizona (6-3, 2-0) on March 6 inside The MacArthur Center.
"We will have a little bit more time in the gym and don't have a game next weekend, so we're keeping a two-week process in mind and are just trying to get better," Goldberg said. "We play both of these teams three more times each and are looking forward to battling with both of them."
No fans will be allowed to watch those matches in-person, but they will be live streamed at: GoMustangs.com/Watch.
