Mustangs dominate at the net to win in three

The Master's men's volleyball team put the nation on notice.
 
Behind 12 aces and a dominating net performance, the No. 1-ranked Mustangs knocked off No. 4 Benedictine-Mesa 25-17, 25-17, 25-20 Friday night in front of a near capacity crowd at The MacArthur Center.
 
TMU hit .475 in the match, much higher than their season average of .350, with 41 kills and only three hitting errors.
 
"I think our guys played close to the best I've seen," said TMU Head Coach Jared Goldberg. "Really good from the service line, really good offense, and only three attack errors for the match which is a pretty wild stat. So when you put up those kind of numbers you're going to win a lot of games. The challenge will be doing that night in and night out."
 
Serving took the advantage of the Mustangs (8-1) up to an even higher notch as they collected 12 aces in the three sets, compared to the Redhawks' three.
 
"We've just got a lot of guys with some aggressive serves," Goldberg said. "They've got big arms on the line, and we've got six different guys who can do it. So that puts a lot of pressure on our opponents."
 
Diego Perez led TMU with 12 kills, followed by Isaac Seltzer with nine and Braden Van Groningen with eight. Patrick Paragas provided 31 assists, and also shared the team high in digs with Van Groningen with six. Paragas, Perez and Jake Olsen each had three aces.
 
The Mustangs finished with four blocks, three coming in the final set
 
"Each night it could be something different that goes well," Goldberg said. "Tonight it was our hitting efficiency and our serving. So I'm happy with that. I'll take that for sure."
 
The Master's will have a week to prepare for their GSAC opener, next Friday against the Hope International Royals in The MacArthur Center. First serve is set for 6 p.m.