SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The Master's women's volleyball team took it to five sets before falling to No. 22-seed Dakota Wesleyan Thursday in the team's first match of pool play at the NAIA Women's Volleyball Championships.
The Lady Mustangs, seeded No. 14, fell 25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 11-25, 13-15.
As a team, TMU hit .163 with 31 attack errors, but also had eight aces and seven blocks. The Tigers had 28 fewer attacks, but finished with 13 fewer hitting errors to hit .218 while also getting seven blocks and six aces.
It was the first match of pool play for the Lady Mustangs (24-4), as 24 teams have formed eight pools of three teams guaranteeing every team at least two matches in the championship tournament. Winners of each pool will move on to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
TMU opened up the first set on a tear, getting eight of the first nine points to take a commanding 8-1 lead. The Tigers, coming off a 5-set loss to Concordia (NE) on Wednesday night, went on a 5-2 run to get to within five at 11-6. But Master's went on a 5-0 run to take control of the set and claim the 6-point win.
The block truly emerged in the second set for Dakota Wesleyan as DWU had four in that set alone. Coming off a 12-block match the night before, the Tigers slowed the Mustangs attack with their net wall. TMU was held to a .128 hitting percentage in the set, falling 25-23.
Fans for Dakota Wesleyan, which is a little more than two hours from Sioux City, made the match feel like a road match for The Master's. The "home" side was populated with several hundred boisterous blue-clad DWU fans.
The Tigers used that support to ride the momentum from the second set win to jump out to a 3-0 then a 5-1 lead to open the third. But the Lady Mustangs brought the momentum back on the court, rattling off a 10-2 run to go up 11-7. The Tigers got to within a point at 14-13, but TMU opened it back up again to win by four.
The Master's hit .351 in that third set, with 15 kills against just two attack errors.
The wheels fell off in the fourth set as TMU committed nine attack errors while the Tigers committed none and hit .385 in the set. In fact, TMU had nearly as many errors (nine) as DWU had kills (10). The 14-point set loss was the worst for the Lady Mustangs this season.
That set up a fifth set. Coming into the night, Master's was 5-1 in 5-set matches.
Dakota Wesleyan opened up the fifth set with a 6-2 lead, getting four in a row to open up that 4-point lead. The Master's fought back, getting the next three to get to within a point. The teams traded points before switching sides with DWU up 8-6. The Tigers got the next two points forcing a Master's timeout.
The Lady Mustangs won the next three to get within one at 13-12, but the lead and the momentum proved too strong to overcome, falling short by two points in the fifth set.
Macy Gebhards led the team with 17 kills followed by Bella Amet with 15 and
McKenna Brady with 13.
Kate Wagner dished 40 assists and
Cassidy Clark added another 15.
Sierra Hale had three service aces in the match to bring her season total up to 68, breaking
Ruby Duncan's team record for a single season.
The Master's will need to beat No. 3-seed Concordia (NE) Friday to force a 3-way playoff to determine a bracket winner. First serve is scheduled for 4:30 PST.
