The Master's men's volleyball team, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Top 15 poll, had to go the distance with the No. 5 Benedictine (Mesa) Redhawks Saturday before getting the five-set win.
The Mustangs (5-1) looked unbeatable in the first two sets, winning 25-18 and 25-20. But riding a wave of emotion, the Redhawks dominated the next two sets 25-19 and 25-15 to force a fifth set, which TMU won 15-12.
"We talked about it leading into the match that (Benedictine) can catch fire and be untouchable at times," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg. "It goes back to any team that is ranked is very talented. The question is who is going to show up and play well at the right time on the right night and take care of the simple things like serve and pass and some of these other things."
In the first two sets, the Mustangs had 31 kills and only one hitting error, resulting in a .625 hitting percentage. By contrast, the Redhawks could only muster .143 in those first two sets, less than half what they have averaged per match this season.
"I was very happy with that," Goldberg said of the hitting. "Coming back after last night (a win over NCAA Division 1 Concordia-Irvine), we didn't have the cleanest serving day, and with our style that's going to happen some days."
The Master's finished with 30 serving errors compared to Ben U's 20.
Benedictine started the season ranked at No. 2 after losing in the NAIA championship match to Grand View (IA) last spring. The Redhawks have been a top 10 team for several seasons, and they used the frustrations of those first two sets to fuel the next two. Ben U hit .333 in the third and .556 in the fourth while TMU hit .217 and .158 respectively.
In the fifth set both teams were playing great, with the Redhawks riding the momentum wave and the Mustangs riding their fan support, which was on their feet in that decisive set. Both teams hit over .500 in that set, with Ben U committing the only hitting error. After being tied at 10-10, The Master's scored the next four out of five points, with
Braden Van Groningen getting two kills during that stretch, that brought the set to match point at 14-11. A service error by the Mustangs was followed by a service error by the Redhawks, and the match belonged to The Master's.
"When things are going your way you want to ride the wave and when things aren't going your way you want to flip the switch," Goldberg said. "How do you bounce out of those tough times and how do you keep things flowing. I told our guys after the game we did a great job of flipping the switch jumping from the fourth set to the fifth set."
The Master's will be back home Friday as they host No. 3 Vanguard in the conference opener. First serve is at 6 p.m.
