Master's thwarts off Westcliff to win season opener in five-set thriller

TMU Men's Volleyball appeared to be cruising to a season-opening victory against Westcliff University after winning the first two sets in convincing fashion, until the Warriors won sets three and four to force a deciding fifth frame.
 
But the Mustangs turned the tide to take the fifth and win their season opener for the first time in the history of the program, now in its third year. Master's won the match by set scores of 25-18, 25-14, 21-25, 21-25, 15-9.
 
"We did a great job starting off the match tonight," Master's Head Coach Jared Goldberg said. "The first two sets I thought we looked like a ranked NAIA team. Our pin hitters started off the match really strong. They did a really good job of making some plays and slowing them down."
 
It was all TMU in the early going, helped by the powerful right arm of NCAA Division I transfer Diego Perez in his Mustang debut. Perez showed numerous glimpses of his top-level talent, leading Master's in kills (14), digs (nine) and service aces (five).
 
Nine of those kills came in the first two sets, after which he posted a .583 hitting %, as Perez was the primary catalyst for Master's as an outside hitter.
 
"He's definitely a pretty special athlete," Goldberg said. "He's played pretty much his whole career as a libero and he also made some pretty incredible defensive saves. He catches everyone's eye when he makes those kinds of plays, whether with his arm and explosiveness at the net or in the back row."
 
In the third set, TMU was looking to sweep the visiting Warriors while holding a 20-18 lead, before Westcliff scored seven of the final eight points of the set to prolong the match.
 
Then in the fourth set, Westcliff never trailed and Master's was unable to overcome the Warriors' 7-2 start to the set, meaning a fifth stanza was required.
 
"We just weren't able to keep that same production through the third and fourth sets," Goldberg said. "What really changed was the service pressure. We started missing a lot and weren't able to get them off the net too much. That risk-reward ratio just fell dramatically in the third and fourth sets and that was the main difference."
 
TMU began to gain back control of the match with the help of its middle blockers, Brett Norkus and Will Avera. Avera led Master's with four kills in the third set, while Norkus posted four of his own in the fourth set alone.
 
"Our middles really took over the match," Goldberg said. "They finished with a really high attack %."
 
Brett Norkus and his younger brother Trent Norkus combined for two blocks in the fifth and final set, as the imposing TMU defense limited the Warrior attack to a -.368 hitting % in the deciding frame.
 
Impressively, the Mustangs took away the Warriors' momentum, which included scoring the opening point of the final set.
 
"We're really not trying to play a momentum game," Goldberg said. "I think we had issues with that last year of being up and way down, then up and way down. We're really just trying to stay steady and not waver.
 
"I think we're a very talented team and that will help us get results if we stay steady and don't ride an emotional rollercoaster."
 
Avera and Braden Van Groningen recorded nine and eight kills respectively in their Mustang debuts, while Johnny Buchanan dished out 39 assists in his. Brett Norkus (eight blocks) and Avera (seven blocks) were a dominate blocking duo for TMU.
 
Fresh off a season-opening victory, Master's will continue with its busy opening week to the season with home matches on Thursday and Friday against (RV) Webber International University and No. 14 Campbellsville (Ky.). The Mustangs are then set to travel to NCAA Division II Concordia University Irvine on Saturday.
 
"We're really happy to finish that type of game and now we continue to head into this week with even tougher matches," Goldberg said.