Box Score The Master's men's volleyball team had 10 blocks and eight aces on their way to a three-set win over Menlo to send the team to the semifinals of the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.
In addition to the blocks and aces, the Mustangs (19-4) had 41 kills and hit .427 as a team in the 25-21, 26-24, 25-19 win. The men's volleyball team becomes just the fourth team in TMU sports history to make the NAIA semifinals, joining baseball in 2000, women's basketball in 2006, and men's soccer in 2009.
"We came out and played phenomenal," said Head Coach Jared Goldberg. "The first set was one of the best sets we have played all year. The second set was a little bit uglier, but the third set we just finished it. Coming out with a three-set win, especially not knowing how we were going to come out, is pretty good."
With injured Middle Blocker Will Avera dressed in his uniform but questionable to play, Brett Norkus stepped up big to lead the team with eight blocks, and Isaac Seltzer added a couple of key blocks in the second set as well.
"I think we are learning on the fly that Isaac can block really well," Goldberg said. "We don't need anybody doing anything special, we just need to be solid, and we were solid all day. Losing Will really hurts our blocking in general and our ability to make stops. But our offense has been really smooth and running efficiently, and we new that was going to stay the same."
First set was back and forth early on with neither team getting more than a one-point lead until Braden Van Groningen served an ace to make it 16-14 TMU. That ace fired up the Mustangs as they then went on a 7-3 run to lead by as much as six before finishing it off 25-21.
In the second set The Master's jumped out to a quick lead and pushed it up to four at 9-5. But Menlo went on a 6-1 run to snag the lead 11-10 and extended the lead by three. That's when TMU went on a 3-0 run, keyed by a solo block from Isaac Seltzer, to tie it at 19-19. The Mustangs took it to three set points before an ace from Braden Van Groningen won it 26-24.
The Mustangs jumped out to a quick lead in the third set and maintained a two- to three-point lead through most of the set. TMU rode the momentum wave closing out the set on a 9-5 run to win it 25-19.
Nolan Flexen finished with 20 kills in the three sets, with Seltzer adding 12. Matthew Hamm had 39 assists, including a school-record 18 in the first set alone.
The Master's will play Vanguard, a team the Mustangs lost to twice during the regular season but beat in the GSAC Championship match, in Friday's semifinal. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT, 2 p.m. PT.
