Let the celebration begin!
The Master's beach volleyball team defeated the Arizona Christian Firestorm 3-0 Â to claim the first GSAC Championship in program history Friday at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
The Sandy Stangs defeated No. 4-seed Benedictine Mesa in their first match Thursday, and followed that with a win over No. 1-seed and No. 1-ranked OUAZ Thursday afternoon to automatically advance to Friday's championship match.
The team then had to wait for the OUAZ/ACU match Friday morning to determine who they would play for the championship in the afternoon. The Firestorm upset the Spirit 3-2 to get to the championship match.
The championship started with the 2s and 4s pairs playing their matches.
Ashlan Van Groningen and
Isabela Rodriguez, the Mustangs's 2s pair, was the first to win, getting a 21-13, 21-11 victory.
The 4s pair of
Macy Gebhards and
Krista Brady then followed suit with a 21-16, 21-19 win.
That cleared the court for the 1s, 3s and 5s to play.
TMU's 1s pair of
Emma Winter and
Zoe Yates won their match 21-19, 22-20 to clinch the championship for The Master's.
The 3s pair of
Addy Brock and Ashlun Unruh, as well as the 5s pair of
Arianna DeRaffaele and
Kayla Goodwin, did not even need to finish their matches.
"Honestly the first thing I said after the match was 'Praise be to God,'" said TMU Head Coach
Annett Davis. "We are so grateful for this historic win and give Him all the glory. These girls were so focused and played their hearts out. I couldn't be more proud of them for their grit and efforts."
With the GSAC Championship, The Master's has automatically qualified for the NAIA National Championship Tournament that will be held at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz. on April 23-25.
