Box Score Grace Colburn had 15 kills and five aces as the No. 23-ranked The Master's women's volleyball team defeated No. 14 Mount Vernon Nazarene University (OH) in four sets Friday at the Hope Summer Slam in Fullerton, Calif.
It was redemption for the Lady Mustangs (2-0) as the Cougars defeated them in the first match of pool play at the NAIA National Championships last November.
The Lady Mustangs (2-0) hit .167 in the 25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21 win, forcing the Cougars to commit 33 hitting errors resulting in a .061 percentage for the match.
"We fought hard," TMU Head Coach
McKenna Hafner said. "I don't know if we played our best but we are fighters and I like that."
The pivotal moment of the match came in the third set after the two teams each took one of the first two sets. After Bella Amet scored the first three points for TMU on kills to make it 3-1, MVNU hurt itself by committing service and hitting errors. The Master's climbed to a 15-5 lead before the Cougars could create a small run. And while they clawed back to get within four at 16-12, the Lady Mustangs closed out the set on a 9-5 run to take the advantage.
The fourth set saw Mount Vernon Nazarene work its way to a 14-9 advantage. But service errors again by the Cougars combined with kills from
McKenna Brady and aces from Colburn and
Sierra Hale propelled TMU on an 11-1 run to wrestle momentum back to the Mustangs' side and take a 20-15 lead. From there it was just a matter of continuing to hold the lead, and with one final kill from Colburn, The Master's closed out the match for their second win of the season.
"I really thought our youth stood out and rose to the occasion," Coach Hafner said. "All four of our freshman played significant roles. I thought our work as blockers was really great and once again I thought our serve was a great carrier for us and created a lot of great opportunities for us."
Bella Amet joined Colburn in double digits with 12 kills, with Hale leading the way in assists with 15 while adding another three aces. As a team The Master's totalled 10 services aces.
The Master's will be back on the Darling Pavilion court at Hope International University on Saturday where the Lady Mustangs are scheduled to play Simpson at 10 a.m. and No. 6 Southern Oregon at 2 p.m.
