Faith Tarver tied her career high with 21 kills as the Master's defeated the Westcliff Warriors 3-2 Tuesday night in a non-conference match played at The MacArthur Center in Santa Clarita.
The match literally went back-and-forth all night with Master's winning the first, third and fifth sets (25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-13).  The Lady Mustangs had a season-high 65 kills, had their second best serving performance of the year collecting 11 service aces, and hit .274 in the match.
"We came out very strong versus Westcliff, hitting probably the highest hitting percentage we've had in a single set," said Head Coach
Annett Davis on the team's .615 hitting percentage in the first set. "Our goal lately has been to attach aggressively."
It all came down to that decisive fifth set in which the Warriors went up 6-4 before the Mustangs (8-4 overall, 3-2 in GSAC) rallied off five straight points to take command 9-6. Master's got it to match point at 14-11 after a kill by
Cora Machado, but two straight points by Westcliff gave them the chance to grab momentum in the closing moments of the set. A Warriors hitting error finished off the match and gave the Mustangs their fourth win in a row.
Behind Tarver's 21 kills was Jessi Swenning with 11,
Breanna Brooks (10),
Emily Clark (9) and
Ruby Duncan (9). Setter
Natalie Collins, who was named GSAC Setter of the Week on Tuesday after dishing 82 assists in two GSAC victories last week, had 49 assists.
Karli Stults had a team-high 14 digs.
In addition to Tarver's career-tying performance in kills, she also hit .298 in the match, added two blocks, and was second on the team with 12 digs.
"
Faith Tarver has been stepping up as a leader by example on the court by playing another well-rounded match, helping us score through her attacking, blocking and digging," Coach Davis said. "She was also one of our best passers of the night passing well over a 2.0 (based on a 0-3 scale)."
Master's travels to San Dimas Friday for a GSAC match against the Life Pacific Warriors at 7 p.m. Then on Saturday it's off to Costa Mesa to play Vanguard, again with a 7 p.m. scheduled start.
