The Master's men's volleyball team has advanced to their third consecutive GSAC Championship match with a 3-set win over the Menlo Oaks Friday in the semifinals of the GSAC Championship Tournament at The MacArthur Center.
The Mustangs (22-2), the No. 1 seed in the tournament as well as the No. 1-ranked team in the NAIA, hit .413 for the match in the 25-20, 25-23, 28-26 victory.
"We had a great start to that first set and then let them back in," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg. "The second and third set were a little bit more steady, which I appreciated. Breaking off and finishing games is the key, and we were able to get some stops at the right points, and all you've got to do is win by two."
TMU had more kills (41-30), more blocks (10-4) and more service aces (10-9) than the Oaks.
"It was the service pressure," Goldberg said when asked about what the difference was in the close second- and third-set wins. "We probably lost the serve and pass game. We both had a ton of aces, and they did so on less errors. That was probably the most aces our passing group has allowed this year. That's something we certainly need to clean up heading into (the championship match) and heading into the NAIA tournament."
Setter
Patrick Paragas supplied 33 assists in the match, with
Isaac Seltzer finishing with 11 kills and
Cole Oliver adding seven.
Will Avera had six blocks in the match.
Before the match began, the seven Mustangs honored with All-GSAC honors were presented with their medal by conference commissioner Mike Daniels.
Patrick Paragas, who was also named GSAC Player of the Year,
Diego Perez,
Will Avera,
Mason Mullins,
Isaac Seltzer,
Braden Van Groningen and
Preston Schmidt, who was also named the GSAC Freshman of the Year.
The Master's will take on No. 2-seed Vanguard for the GSAC championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. in The MacArthur Center. The Lions defeated No. 3-seed OUAZ 29-27, 25-21, 25-15 to advance to the championship match.
