Master's completes sweep of (RV) Webber International

TMU Men's Volleyball nearly squandered a two-set-to-none lead in its season opener on Monday but made sure that Thursday's match against Webber International didn't extend any further than it had to.
 
In a battle between teams receiving votes in the national rankings, the Mustangs swept the Warriors on Thursday afternoon inside The MacArthur Center by set scores of 25-18, 25-14, 26-24 to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
 
"Being up 2-0, our team had a bit of a challenge closing earlier in the week and were in the same situation again," Master's Head Coach Jared Goldberg said. "We had some guys step up in the third as we pulled off a back-and-forth set."
 
With Master's holding a three-point lead midway through the first set, a pair of Braden Van Groningen kills fueled a 4-0 TMU to extend the Mustangs' lead to seven, the margin they won the opening stanza by.
 
Then in the second, three TMU blocks sparked a 7-1 start to the set, with Will Avera and Diego Perez each tallying a pair of block assists. The visiting Warriors got no closer than five the rest of the second, before another 7-1 Master's run helped the Mustangs run away with the set by double digits.
 
"The guys came out with good focus right from the start for the first two sets," Goldberg said. "As the second set was coming to an end though, the momentum shifted as we were outscored at the end of that game."
 
In a back-and-forth third set, TMU held a late 21-19 lead, similar to the 20-18 advantage it held on Monday against Westcliff. Once again, Master's looked in danger of letting the opposition force a fourth set by winning the third, as Webber International scored three-straight points to go ahead 22-21.
 
Then a pair of Ben Herb kills helped TMU tie the set, before at 24-24 two Warrior attacking errors helped the Mustangs clinch the match in three.
 
Herb led Master's with 11 kills, followed by Van Groningen's 10.
 
"Braden Van Groningen and Ben Herb had really good matches after having a tougher time scoring on Monday," Goldberg said. "Along with those guys, our entire defense had a great game for the second match in a row. Anytime we can hold a team to a .000 hitting %, we will win a lot of matches."
 
Johnny Buchanan tallied a team-high 33 assists and nine digs, while Avera led the team with five blocks.
 
TMU now hits the road for the first time this season when the Mustangs take on NCAA Division II Concordia University Irvine on Saturday at 7 p.m.