TMU Men's Volleyball improved as each set went on, but were unable to overcome Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on Friday night, falling in straight sets (16-25, 19-25, 21-25).
"Cal Lutheran did a great job all the way through that game," Master's Head Coach
Jared Goldberg said. "They came out right from the start competing and we didn't have the fight in us tonight.
Master's battled Cal Lutheran early in the first set, but with the set tied at 10-10, the Kingsmen outscored the Mustangs 15-6 the remainder of the opening stanza.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with the set tied at 13-13. A 4-0 CLU run put the home side in firm control, as TMU didn't get any closer than three the rest of the set.
Then in the third with the Mustangs trailing 7-8, another 4-0 Kingsmen run sent Cal Lutheran on its way. Master's got no closer than three once again, but were able to score its most points in any set of the match.
"It was a completely different story than the match the night before with Georgetown and we just couldn't put any service pressure on them at all," Goldberg said.
CLU held TMU to a .000 hitting % in each of the first two sets, before the Mustangs improved that mark to .167 in the third set.
Trent Norkus led TMU with eight kills (.312 attack %), while
Ryan Fooks tallied six kills on a team-high .545 hitting.
Ezra Moore dished out 19 assists, while
Wyatt Bates recorded 12 digs.
All three of TMU's (4-3 overall) losses this season have come against NCAA opponents.
Master's will look to end its week on a high note when the Mustangs host No. 15 UC Merced on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"It's a good learning experience for our guys regarding the consistency it takes to play at a high level and hopefully we can turn it around tomorrow afternoon against UC Merced," Goldberg said.
