Braden Van Groningen had 19 kills to lead The Master’s University men’s volleyball team in a four-set win over the Vanguard Lions Thursday, Feb. 6 in Costa Mesa.

Renewing an old rivalry from when the Lions were in the GSAC, the Mustangs (2-0) had to overcome a rough second set to get the 25-16, 15-25, 25-23, 25-11 victory.

TMU hit .311 for the match while holding Vanguard, a team it faced in the semifinals of the NAIA National Championship Tournament just two years ago, to .193. The Master’s had the advantage in kills (45-39) and blocks (8-6), but fell shy in service aces (3-4)

The Mustangs never relinquished the lead in the first set, though the Lions tied it three separate times, once at 3-3, then 10-10 and finally 11-11. But then TMU scored the next four points in a row and finished off on a 14-5 run to take the first set.

Vanguard bounced back to show why it was the NAIA national champions two years ago, taking a 4-3 lead and never letting it go after that. The Master’s got to within three at 12-15, but the Lions finished the set on a 10-3 run, winning the final four of five points, to get the 10-point set win.

The third was the most competitive set of the match, with neither side getting more than a two- to three-point lead. After Vanguard was able to open up a 20-17 lead, the Mustangs scored six of the next eight points to go up 23-22. A Lions’ kill tied the score at 23-23, but then a kill by Van Groningen and an ace by Isaac Seltzer secured the set to give TMU a 2-1 lead.

With the momentum now on its shoulders, The Master’s quickly opened up a fourth set 6-2 lead. After a Vanguard timeout, the Mustangs got after it, finishing out the set on a 19-9 run that included the final four points in a row to take the match 3-1.

“After struggling to slow them down in the second set, I was really proud of how we responded in the third,” said TMU Head Coach Jared Goldberg. “We battled point for point, made key defensive adjustments and put ourselves in a position to close it out. That fight carried over into the fourth, where we played with confidence and finished strong.”

Trace Oswald finished with seven kills and Ezra Vlad added six for the Mustangs. Setter Matthew Hamm tallied 29 assists while both Vlad and Seltzer getting six blocks each.

The Master’s will have its home opener on Wednesday, Feb. 12 when it hosts the Westcliff Warriors in The MacArthur Center. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.