The Master's beach volleyball team got a pair of wins, including knocking off No. 1 and previously unbeaten in conference OUAZ, on the opening day of the GSAC Championship tournament held at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
Four teams made the tournament (OUAZ, The Master's, Benedictine Mesa and Arizona Christian), which is a double elimination format. The Mustangs, seeded No. 2, defeated No. 3 BenU 3-2 in the opening match Thursday morning.
The Sandy Stangs got 2-set wins from the 2s pair of
Ashlan Van Groningen and
Isabela Rodriguez, as well as from the 4s pair of
Macy Gebhards and
Krista Brady.
The 5s pair of
Arianna DeRaffaele and
Kayla Goodwin had a 3-set win, 21-13, 16-21, 15-11, to get the third and final win for Master's.
With the win TMU advanced to the winner's side of the bracket, where they took on the Spirit, which went 14-0 in conference play this season.
After Gebhards and Brady lost the 4s match, Van Groningen and Rodriguez won in three sets followed by DeRaffaele and Goodwin also getting a 3-set win. And when the 1s pair of
Emma Winter and
Zoe Yates won their match 22-20, 21-19, that was all The Master's needed to move on to the championship match with a 3-1 win.
The 3s match did not need to be completed as the Sandy Stangs had already won.
"Today was one of our toughest days of the year," said TMU Head Coach
Annett Davis. "It was very hot, until the Lord provided some cloud coverage. Our girls showed grit, and stamina. Even though the conditions were hard, they rarely showed it. And I think that was a huge difference for us coming away with a couple of wins."
Arizona Christian defeated Benedictine Mesa in a loser's bracket match. So the Firestorm will play the Spirit Friday morning to determine which teams moves on to the championship match against The Master's.
Should the Sandy Stangs win that match, they will win the GSAC Championship for the first time in school history.
