Box Score The Master's men's volleyball team fell short of their goal of a national championship, losing to the Vanguard Lions in five sets Friday at the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Mustangs were the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament, losing to the No. 2 Lions 22-25, 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 13-15.
"It came down to a couple points," said Head Coach Jared Goldberg. "In order to win national championships sometimes things just have to go your way, and we were just a little bit short today. The guys did great and fought hard all the way through. I'm really proud of the way we finished our season, but just short of our goal. But we will turn it around and get better and continue to grow from here."
Both teams were about as evenly matched as two teams can get, with both towing similar stat lines. TMU hit .416 as a team with 64 kills, 10 service aces and eight blocks.
Vanguard was able to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead in the fifth set. The Master's tied it at 6-6 on a block from Brett Norkus and Braden Van Groningen, but that was the closest they would get. The Lions went on a 6-2 run after that to create a 12-8 lead and a cushion they rode the rest of the way to win the match.
Nolan Flexen finished with 34 kills, Isaac Seltzer had 13 and Van Groningen tallied 10. Matthew Hamm finished with 55 assists, with Brett Norkus collecting five blocks.
The Master's finished the season with a program best 19 wins and were only the fourth team in The Master's athletics history to make an NAIA national championship semifinal.
