CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Behind 14 kills from
Braden Van Groningen, The Master's men's volleyball team advanced to the NAIA semifinals with a 25-23, 25-19, 25-20 win over No. 8-seed Park (MO) University Thursday at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
It is the third year in a row the team has made it to the national semifinals.
As a team the Mustangs (25-0) hit .364, nearly identical to their season average, with the advantage in kills (45-29), blocks (8-7) and aces (3-1).
The match didn't come without its challenges, however. The team struggled to find their hitting stroke in the first set, hitting .200 for the set, and picked up nine service errors in the second. But after every error, the team would get the next side out and eventually pull away.
"We missed a little bit but we sided out really well," TMU Head Coach
Jared Goldberg about the second set serving. "We got it together toward the end of the second and finished well."
Van Groningen hit .444 while getting his team-high 14 kills, followed by
Trace Oswald with nine and
Isaac Seltzer with eight.
Matthew Hamm collected 37 assists in the three sets, for a 13.3 assists per set average.
Will Avera lead the defense with five blocks with both Seltzer and Oswald adding three each.
Max McCullough had two of the team's three aces, with Oswald getting the third.
Twelve teams made the cut to the NAIA Men's Volleyball National Championship tournament, and were divided into four pools of three teams each. TMU, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, went 2-0 in their pool to advance.
The Master's will now face No. 5-seed St. Thomas (FL) University in the semifinals. The Bobcats are 25-1 on the season, going 13-0 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference and winning the AAC Championship tournament. First serve is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. PT and can be watched free of charge on the
NAIA Network.
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