Box Score The Master's men's volleyball team were down two sets to none on the road against NCAA Division I No. 10 Pepperdine, but came back to win a thriller 22-25, 23-25, 34-32, 26-24, 15-12 Friday in Malibu, Calif.
The Mustangs (18-2, 6-1 GSAC) out-hit Pepperdine .285 to .244Â and committed fewer hitting errors (27-20), but the Waves had 23 more attacks than TMU that resulted in seven more kills (66-59).
"We started off a bit slow and tentative in that first set, but settled in more as the match went on," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg.
In the first set, The Master's jumped out to an 8-4 lead. But the Waves came back on a 10-2 run to take a 14-10 lead. The Mustangs were able to get to within two several times, but the Waves came away with the 25-22 set win.
The second set stayed tight throughout. Neither team ever had more than a 2-point lead, and neither team could ever mount more than a 3-0 run.
"I thought we had a really big missed opportunity in that second set when we had a close game late into the teens and then couldn't pull it off," Goldberg said.
The third set was one of the most competitive sets of the season. Pepperdine opened up a 5-2 lead, only to see th Mustangs win six of the next seven points to go up by two. With TMU getting to a 19-17 lead, the Waves scored five of the next six to go up 22-20. But the Mustangs scored three in a row to take a 23-22 advantage.
Four times The Master's had set point, only to serve the ball into the net all four times. Finally a block from
Mason Mullins and
Diego Perez won the set for the Mustangs 34-32.
"The turning point for us was really pulling off that third set and then it started rolling more from there," Goldberg said.
The fourth set stayed tight to start, with Pepperdine going up 18-15. But again the Mustangs mounted a run, this time getting five in a row to go up 20-18. Again the play went back and forth, but after it was tied 24-24, the Waves committed a service error followed by a
Patrick Paragas kill for the Mustangs to win the set.
In that decisive fifth set, TMU went on an 8-2 run early to take a 10-5 lead. The teams traded points until Pepperdine went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 13-11. But when the two teams traded points to bring it to match point,
Isaac Seltzer hammered the winning kill to give the Mustangs the 15-12 set win and the match victory.
"The couple service runs [we had] early in the fifth set made all the difference and we were able to hold on," Goldberg said.
Braden Van Groningen finished with 16 kills, followed by Seltzer with 12 and
Diego Perez with 11.
Will Avera also had 11 kills and a game-high seven blocks in the match. Paragas finished with 52 assists.
The Master's will be back home in The MacArthur Center Saturday when they host the Menlo Oaks for a GSAC match. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
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