Behind seven aces from the service line, The Master's men's volleyball team defeated the Simpson Red Hawks in a non-conference match 25-20, 25-13, 25-19 Thursday night in The MacArthur Center.
In addition to the solid serving, the Mustangs (10-2, 1-1) hit .469 as a team, collecting 45 kills in the three sets while committing only seven hitting errors.
"The team was pretty efficient tonight," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg. "I was pretty happy with the way the guys played and competed. That is what I expect from our offense."
There were only two times TMU did not have a lead in a set. Simpson had a 1-0 lead at the start of the first set, and a 2-1 lead at the start of the third set. Other than that, it was a dominating performance.
"We pushed hard in practice this week, and the way we played tonight is a reflection of that," Goldberg said. Last week's loss (to Vanguard) was tough, but we are trying to get better and better so we are playing our best volleyball at the end of the year."
The Master's defense held the Red Hawks to a .157 hitting percentage while getting seven blocks in the match.
Braden Van Groningen led the Mustangs with 10 kills followed by
Diego Perez and
Isaac Seltzer with eight each. Perez passed
Brett Norkus and moved into second all-time in career kills with 387. Von Groningen is now tied with Norkus in third all-time with 383.
Nolan Flexen is the all-time leader in career kills with 424, which he collected in just one year.
The Mustangs will next travel to Northern California to play the No. 6 Menlo Oaks Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.
