In some sense, Thursday night’s match at Hope International in Fullerton summed up the Mustangs’ season to this point: a glimpse of brilliance followed by the kind of inconsistency associated with young teams learning the ropes.
Days after Master’s won its first road match and nearly beat the nation’s No. 13 team at a tournament in Missouri, the Mustangs won set one Thursday before dropping the final three to Hope in a Golden State Athletic Conference loss by scores of 20-25, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-21.
“We ran the middle extremely well tonight, and I’m very happy with that production,” said coach Allan Vince. “We were inconsistent at scoring on the outside and right side and that cost us the match.”
It also cost Master’s (8-14, 3-6 GSAC) the chance to build on Saturday’s strong performance, a five-set loss to No. 13 Columbia at the school’s home tournament. Instead, Hope played the role of resilient host, regrouping after set one and riding out a roller-coaster set two.
The Mustangs and Royals found themselves tied nine times in the second frame, with Hope ultimately winning by four. Set three was less dramatic. The Royals never trailed in set four.
Morgan Koch led the Mustangs with 15 kills. Autumn Stevens followed with 10, and Kayla Sims tallied 43 assists for Master’s, which hopes to rebound Friday night at home against Vanguard.
The Mustangs have played much better at TMU, where they’ve gone 7-2. They currently sit in a three-way tie for fifth place in conference. The top six teams make the GSAC tournament.
Here’s the box score.
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