The Master's beach volleyball team opened the 2024 season Friday by defeating the NAIA defending champions and preseason No. 1 Vanguard Lions 4-1 at the TMU Beach Volleyball Courts.
The Sandy Stangs, ranked No. 8 in the NAIA Preseason Poll, had a pair of two-set wins and a pair of three-set wins, while the loss also went to three sets.
Each school has five teams of two, ranked one through five, that compete against the same ranked pairs for the other school.
"The girls had a lot of grit today," said TMU Head Coach
Annett Davis. "They were just assigned their pairs last week and they are already looking like fine tuned machines.Â
TMU's No. 2 pair of
Zoe Yates and
Faith Wada won their match 21-17, 21-14. The No. 5 team of
Arianna DeRaffaele and Eleana Niehus also won their match in two sets, 21-16, 21-16.
The No. 3 pair of
Breanna Brooks and
Isabela Rodriguez dropped the first set 15-21, but came back to win the next two 21-18, 15-9 for the win. The No. 4 team of
Ashlyn Unruh and
Violet Avila also went to three sets, 20-22, 21-16, 15-13 to get the win.
"Their fitness level is at a high which helps them in three-set matches," Davis said. "
Faith Wada and
Zoe Yates had a high-level, well-executed match. It was poetry in motion."
TMU's No. 1 pair of
Evi Yates and
Annika Booker took the only match loss of the day, dropping in three 15-21, 21-18, 10-15.
"Our big goal is to remember that we are here to play for Him and that we are playing with Him," Davis said. "Leave selfishness and ego behind, be unified and believe that we can win."
The Master's will have a scrimmage on Saturday against Concordia University Irvine at the TMU Beach Volleyball Courts beginning at 9 a.m.
