Third-set comeback leads to Mustang sweep

Isaac Seltzer led the team with 13 kills as TMU beat Westcliff in straight sets on Thursday in The MacArthur Center.

Despite dominating the first two sets, TMU used a late rally in the final frame to seal their seventh win of the season in as many games.

In the first set, the score remained close early but TMU used a 4-0 run with a kill from Trace Oswald to take a 21-16 lead. Ezra Vlad's kill from Matthew Hamm got TMU out strong, leading 1-0. 

The Master's locked down Westcliff on the defensive end in the second set, forcing the Warriors into a -.031 hitting percentage, including nine hitting errors. A 5-1 Mustang run, containing two kills from first-time starter Jace Davis, got the Mustangs up 11-5 and they never looked back. TMU ended the set on a 3-0 run, going up 2-0 on another Warrior hitting error. 

"Overall, I liked how we played defensively tonight," TMU Head Coach Jared Goldberg said. "It was a bit more of an off night offensively but we managed to compete well despite it."

However, Westcliff started the final frame with four straight points and expanding their advantage to scores of 7-2 and 16-10. TMU out-hit the Warriors, .205 compared to .103, but still found themselves down late in the last period. 

The Warriors got to set point at 24-20, but TMU put together five straight points, with kills from Andrew Karges, Seltzer and Vlad, to come to match point. But a TMU service error forced extended points. In the end, Oswald and Davis each notched one kill to close the door on a Warrior comeback and gave The Master's the victory.

"The third set certainly got interesting, with us going down and not really crawl back until the end." Coach Goldberg said. "We are working on not putting ourselves in those situations but some guys really stepped up at the end to make some plays and finish it in three sets."

The Master's will be back again on Friday to face Soka University of America at home in The MacArthur Center.