The Master's men's volleyball team made it 10 wins in a row with a 4-set (25-22, 24-26, 27-25, 25-20) victory over the Menlo Oaks Saturday afternoon in The MacArthur Center.
The Mustangs (19-2, 7-1 GSAC) got their 19th win of the season, tying last year's win total for most in program history.
The win also came less than 24 hours after an emotional, physically draining, 5-set win over NCAA Division I Pepperdine on the road.
"It wasn't the sharpest game we've had, but sometimes that's what you get on certain nights," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg. "Good teams figure out how to win when things aren't completely smooth. So I'm pleased from that standpoint, but I wish we were sharper."
The match was tight throughout, with both teams trading blows and rarely getting more than a 3-point lead in any set.
In the first set, The Master's was able to pull away late from a 17-16 lead to get the 25-22 win, only to see Menlo rattle off three consecutive points in the second set when the Mustangs were at set point (24-23) to get a 26-24 win and even the match at 1-1.
The third set was just as tight when a 4-0 run by TMU early erased an Oaks lead and put the Mustangs up 11-8. But Menlo got the next three points to tie it at 11-11. The teams traded blows again until The Master's won three out of four points to go up 23-20, only to see the Oaks fight back and tie it at 23-23. Four points later, and tied 25-25, a Menlo attack error was followed by a
Diego Perez kill to give TMU the win and go up two sets to one.
In the fourth, Menlo jumped out to an early lead only to see The Master's win five of the next six points to go up 7-5. The Oaks could not recover as the Mustangs opened up a 6-point lead late and settled for the 5-point set win and the match.
After nine sets and nearly five hours of intense volleyball played over the last 22 hours, the Mustangs were exhausted but happy to come away with two important wins.
"The real message is we are trying to prep the team for nationals," Goldberg said. "We have to beat four high-level teams in five days in order to win a national championship. The schedule is what the schedule is, and the more we can have these back-to-back challenges the more prepared we are for what comes later in the season."
TMU was led by
Will Avera,
Diego Perez and
Isaac Seltzer with 13 kills each. Avera also finished with six blocks while setter
Patrick Paragas had 54 assists, one shy of his career high. Jake Olsen led the team with two aces.
The Master's will finish off the regular season at home in The MacArthur Center next weekend, starting with Arizona Christian Friday night at 6 p.m. Before the match, the five players finishing off their collegiate careers at The Master's will be honored on Senior Night.
