There was an undeniable bright spot in The Master's University women's volleyball team's 3-1 loss to San Diego Christian inside The MacArthur Center on Saturday night.
The Mustangs' setters, Natalie Collins and Timberlie Miller, were effective in spreading the ball around to a bevy of hitters. Faith Tarver finished with a career-high 20 kills, EG Williams added 12, and Ruby Duncan had nine.
But it was service errors that ultimately kept Master's from building enough momentum to come all the way back after dropping the night's first two sets, allowing San Diego to hold on by scores of 25-23, 25-18, 18-25 and 25-22.
"Our outside hitters were on fire," said TMU head coach Annett Davis, who credited Collins (26 assists) and Miller (23) with keeping San Diego off-balance by setting to a variety of hitters. "There were just a few intangibles that we need to fix to get us the victory."
One area the Mustangs (6-10, 2-4 GSAC) will look to clean up is the service line. TMU made 15 service errors, compared to San Diego's five.
"That killed our momentum. We gave away too many free points," Davis said.
But after falling behind two sets to none, the Mustangs fought back. TMU hit .324 in the third frame and defensively limited the Hawks to just eight kills amid six errors. Duncan and Emily Scott closed the set with back-to-back kills.
Set four was a microcosm of the match: The Hawks built a comfortable lead. Master's battled back. But it wasn't quite enough.
After San Diego went ahead 18-10, TMU scored eight of the next 10 points to climb within 20-18. The Hawks responded with a 3-0 run and Emma Honea and Breanna Brooks ultimately ended the match with a block.
Celestina Lupeli finished with 10 kills to lead San Diego, which improved to 8-3 overall and 4-2 in GSAC play.
Anna Poole led TMU with 19 digs, and Jessi Swenning had a team-high seven blocks. In addition to her career night on offense, Tarver added 16 digs and four blocks.
TMU will next play Menlo College on Friday at TMU. The match is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start.
