The Master's University women's volleyball fell into an early hole, and despite battling back, fell to the No. 3-seed Vanguard Lions in the first round of the GSAC Tournament played in Surprise, Ariz. Thursday.
The Lady Mustangs, the No. 6 seed, dropped the first two sets 21-25, 21-25, grabbed the third set 25-19, but the Lions fought off a tenacious attack to claim the fourth 23-25 and end The Masters's season.
"Vanguard is a good team and we played our hearts out," said Head Coach Annett Davis. "I could not have asked for more."
In the second set, Vanguard broke away from a one-point lead scoring eight straight points to go up by nine at 14-5. The Lions got to set point, 24-17, when The Master's rattled off four straight points. But a kill by the Lions' Callie Bickmore closed out the set for Vanguard.
In the third set, Masters went on a 10-3 run to take a 16-9 lead. That was more than enough cushion as they would go on to win the set by six.
The fourth set was defined by two separate runs. First The Master's got seven straight points and took an 8-4 lead. But Vanguard went on an 8-1 run to get right back into the match leading 12-9. The Masters could not generate another run, losing the fourth set and seeing their season come to an end.
All-GSAC Ruby Duncan finished with a team-high 17 kills and added 12 digs. Faith Tarver had 11 kills. And in their final match as Lady Mustangs, All-GSAC Jessi Swenning added 10 kills, Karli Stults had 26 digs, Natalie Collins finished with 16 assists and Emily Clark closed out five kills and four blocks.
"I am proud of each girl as they gave their all," Davis said. "Ruby Duncan put together an excellent performance tonight. The things that we asked her to do all year she put it all into the match tonight. Jessi Swenning continued her consistency in hitting which showed why she was all conference."
