It took coming back from a 2-1 set difference, but No. 5 The Master's men's volleyball team defeated the No. 6 Grand View Vikings in five sets Friday in Chicago, Ill.
The Mustangs (2-0) took the first set 25-22, but dropped the next two sets 14-25, 22-25, before grabbing the momentum with a 25-19 set-4 win and clinching it 15-13 in the fifth.
TMU hit .344 for the match, which follows their first match in which they hit .381, and out-blasted the Vikings 61-48 in kills and 13-6 in blocks.
The fourth set was the most critical for The Master's, and after jumping out to an 8-5 lead, Grand View rattled off three straight points to tie it at 8-8. But the Mustangs grabbed hold of that momentum and rode it on a 12-6 run to take a 20-14 lead. After the Vikings scored five of the next six points, TMU closed out the set with four straight points to force the decisive fifth.
The teams traded points with neither gaining more than a one-point advantage. Then with Grand View up 10-9, The Master's got kills from
Diego Perez and
Braden Van Groningen, plus an attack error by the Vikings, to score three straight points and take a 12-10 lead. The two teams traded points until Van Groningen put away a kill on match point to seal the victory for the Mustangs.
Perez finished with a team-high 15 kills followed by Van Groningen with 12 and
Isaac Seltzer with 11.
Patrick Paragas had a season-high 51 assists with
Mason Mullins getting a season-high seven blocks.
The Master's will finish out the season-opening Chicago Tournament Saturday morning when they take on No. 14 Lourdes University in Elgin Ill. The match is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. PT.
