The Master's men's volleyball team avenged a loss earlier this season by defeating the No. 4-ranked OUAZ Spirit in straight sets Friday night before a packed house in The MacArthur Center.
The No. 5-ranked Mustangs (14-4, 6-3 GSAC) played with an intensity and an emotional crowd fed the players as TMU controlled every aspect of the match 25-21, 25-22, 25-16.
"This was a great win," said TMU Assistant Coach
Ben Herb. "The guys were consistent the whole way through. We applied steady pressure offensively, defensively and from the service line... we played a complete game. There was no up and down, it was just straight through and that was the best part."
The Master's hit .309 for the match, holding the Spirit to .167. TMU had more kills (37-33), blocks (11-4) and aces (5-2). Freshmen
Nolan Flexen and
Isaac Seltzer led the team with 10 kills each, followed by
Braden Van Groningen's seven with
Matthew Hamm serving up 31 assists. Both
Will Avera and
Brett Norkus had five blocks each.
"Nolan played well, obviously, but I think the big thing tonight was we had the middles. We worked on that connection this week," Herb said. "Brett and Will played well tonight and Matthew set them well."
The Mustangs have won five matches in a row, all against ranked opponents. Their 14 wins on the season ties the program record which was set last year.
The final game of the regular season is Saturday, a day in which the team will honor its two seniors --
Brett Norkus and
Ezra Moore, who have been with the program since its inception just four years ago. The senior day festivities will begin before the start of the 1 p.m. match against the Arizona Christian Firestorm.
