On a perfect day for beach volleyball, the No. 10-ranked The Master's defeated the Hope International Royals 4-1 Wednesday at the TMU Beach Volleyball Courts.
With the win, the Sandy Stangs (6-12, 5-5 GSAC) have qualified for the GSAC Championship Tournament April 12-13 at the Brookhurst Courts in Huntingon Beach, Calif.
"Our devotion this morning by one of the girls was on loving your opponents," said TMU Head Coach
Annett Davis. "It was a great devotion to have because we knew we were going into battle. Still, we had to battle well. After she talked, I talked about how we can't have selfish ambition. Others need to come before ourselves. I prayed that their hearts would not be me-focused and me-centered. And that's how we played today. They celebrated when their partner did something great. I could see we were genuinely happy when others did something well. This is how we should play unto the Lord."
In the opening round of play, TMU's No. 2 team of
Zoe Yates and
Faith Wada won their match 21-12, 21-14. The Mustangs lost their No. 4 match to tie it 1-1.
After the No. 5 pair of
Arianna DeRaffaele and Eleana Niehus won their match 21-15, 21-9, TMU's No. 1 pair of
Evi Yates and
Annika Booker took their match 21-12, 21-11 to give the Sandy Stangs the win. The final pairing of
Breanna Brooks and
Isabela Rodriguez went three sets but won the match 16-21, 21-18, 15-11 to give The Master's the 4-1 victory.
"I wanted them to play with Him, not just for Him" Coach Davis said. "When I need to ask the Lord for forgiveness, He is with us. We didn't need to stay down for long. Our whole attitude and heart, whether we win or lose, is a win. And I saw that on our team today."
The Master's will host No. 6 Saint Katherine Thursday in their final match of the season at the TMU Beach Volleyball Courts. First serve is set for noon.
