Mustangs open up GSAC play with sweep of ACU

No. 12 TMU Men's Volleyball extended its program-best winning streak to four matches, opening up Golden State Athletic Conference play with a three-set sweep of visiting Arizona Christian University (25-17, 28-26, 25-19) on Friday night.
 
"It's always great to be able to pick up a conference win in three sets," Master's Head Coach Jared Goldberg said. "ACU did a great job of slowing a couple of our guys down attacking, but ultimately our serving pressure was a defining difference tonight."
 
Diego Perez opened the match at the service line during a 4-0 Mustang run, serving an ace to go along with two Ben Herb kills as part of TMU's four-straight points to start the match.
 
With Master's leading throughout the rest of the first, Perez served as part of another 4-0 TMU streak that helped the Mustangs all but put away the set, this time serving two aces that were sandwiched between two Will Avera kills.
 
"The first set was just about the best I've seen us from the serving line and it really set the tone for the match," Goldberg said.
 
Two more Perez service aces to open the second set helped put Master's ahead 3-0 straight away. Four-straight points later in the set put the Mustangs ahead by six, 10-6, before the Firestorm worked its way back.
 
With Master's holding set point at 24-23, consecutive ACU kills gave the visitors the first of two set points they would have.
 
However, the Firestorm served errors each time, allowing the Mustangs to respond with a combined block from Brett Norkus and Ben Herb and a kill from Brock Gardner to close out the second and give TMU a two-set-to-none lead.
 
The third set followed a similar script, with Master's taking an early 6-1 advantage before ACU battled back to take a lead. With the set tied at 13-13, a second 6-1 run allowed TMU to take control of third in route to completing the sweep.
 
Herb led the Mustangs with 10 kills, while Perez was right behind with nine. Perez led the team with his five service aces, while Johnny Buchanan dished out 28 assists.
 
Defensively, Wyatt Bates and Trent Norkus each recorded nine digs, while Brett Norkus and Will Avera each tallied a pair of blocks.
 
Master's (8-3 overall, 1-0 GSAC) will put its four-match winning streak on the line on Saturday, when TMU takes on No. 9 Ottawa University Arizona at 1 p.m.
 
"We will need to continue to put more pieces together as a team tomorrow against Ottawa and the team is looking forward to another battle," Goldberg said.