TMU Men's Volleyball makes history with first win over ranked team

TMU Men's Volleyball has achieved numerous firsts since Jared Goldberg arrived as head coach. The Mustangs added one more to the list on Thursday.
 
Master's, receiving votes in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, defeated sixth-ranked Benedictine University Mesa in four sets (16-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-22) to pick up the program's first-ever win against a ranked opponent.
 
"This was certainly the biggest win in our program's short history and we look to continue to build on it," Goldberg said.
 
The Mustangs tried to prove they belonged on the court with one of the top teams in the NAIA, but faced an uphill battle after losing the opening set by nine points.
 
"After losing the first game pretty badly, we felt like we were really just beating ourselves," Goldberg said. "Once our guys had the confidence that we could play with a highly-ranked team like BenU Mesa, we started turning it around and playing better."
 
Helping the turnaround was NCAA Division I transfer Diego Perez, who showcased his top-level talent with a match-high 19 kills, which was five more than any Redhawk and 12 more than any other Mustang.
 
"Diego Perez really had a strong night attacking, both in terms of his kills and efficiency," Goldberg said.
 
Master's tied the match after winning the second set. Then came the turning point.
 
With TMU leading 20-17 in the third set, the Redhawks quickly overturned their deficit into a 23-21 advantage.
 
A Johnny Buchanan kill and Ethan Egger service ace then helped Master's briefly regain its lead, before Benedictine tied the set at 24 apiece. But two Redhawk errors then allowed the Mustangs to take a two-set-to-one advantage.
 
"The turning point in the match was the finish of set three," Goldberg said. "After being up 20-17, we started to fall apart and fell down 23-21. Ethan Egger came in and did a great job as a serving specialist bringing our team back to finish the set."
 
Then in the fourth set, a Ben Herb kill and service ace capped off a 4-0 TMU run that gave Master's an early 8-4 advantage. The Mustangs never trailed from that point on, finishing off the match in four sets.
 
Buchanan led the Mustangs with 41 assists, while Wyatt Bates recorded a team-high 14 digs.
 
Master's became the third Golden State Athletic Conference team to beat Benedictine this season, joining now second-ranked Menlo College and third-ranked Vanguard University.
 
"As we look at the results of this game, we also see just how strong the GSAC is looking to be this year," Goldberg said.
 
TMU (3-1 overall) completes its Arizona road trip tomorrow against Grand Canyon University, the sixth-ranked team in NCAA Division I. First serve in Phoenix, Arizona is scheduled for 1 p.m. PST (2 p.m. local time).
 
"We have another big game tomorrow against GCU to wrap up this trip before going into some big out of conference matches next week at home," Goldberg said.