Braden Van Groningen recorded 15 kills and
Matthew Hamm dished 39 assists to lead The Master's men's volleyball team to a 3-set sweep of the Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles Thursday night in The MacArthur Center.
The Mustangs (8-0) hit .341 to get the 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 win, holding CUI to a .170 hitting percentage. TMU led in kills (40-33), blocks (8-4 and aces (2-1).
"That's a very talented team," said TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg, referring to Concordia Irvine. "As much as out team took care of it and finished really well, that match could certainly have gone either way. We recognized that and stayed steady all the way through. So a really good team win."
The Master's jumped out to a 5-2 lead at the start of the first set, only to see the Golden Eagles score the next four points to take a 6-5 lead. The teams traded blows, with the Mustangs getting the occasional back-to-back points to eventually go up 20-17. TMU then closed out the set getting five of the next eight points to win by five.
The second set started out all Mustangs, with the home squad grabbing a 5-1 lead. The difference in this set over the first was that Concordia Irvine could not climb back. The Golden Eagles did get to within one point at 22-21, But The Master's won three of the last four points to take a 2-0 set advantage.
Once again TMU started out strong in the third set, but this time CUI would not go away, taking the lead 12-11 and once again at 13-12. But the Mustangs rattled off a 4-0 run to go up by three, and moments later added a 6-0 run to put the game out of touch at 23-15. Van Groningen's final kill of the night won the match for The Master's with the 8-point set win and the 3-set sweep.
Trace Oswald finished with eight kills and Max McCulough, playing against his former team, tallied seven kills and had a match-high five blocks.
Despite the 3-set win, Coach Goldberg knows this match against Concordia Irvine, an NCAA Division II school that plays Division I in men's volleyball, was a good test for this Master's team, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA.
"We've played these types of games all year," Goldberg said. "So it's not the first time we've played against a team of this level, but it was certainly different than some of the games last week."
The Master's will next host the Olivet Nazarene (IL) Tigers in The MacArthur Center next Wednesday. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
