The Master’s University beach volleyball team came within one match out of the five played Thursday from getting to the Golden State Athletic Conference Championship match. But in the end it was Ottawa University Arizona advancing to take on Vanguard for the title with a 3-2 win over the Sandy Stangs.

The top four teams made it to the GSAC Championship double-elimination tournament played at Huntington Beach. Vanguard was the No. 1 seed followed by OUAZ, The Master’s and Hope International.

The Mustangs lost to OUAZ Wednesday morning in the first match that pitted the No. 2 against No. 3, which sent TMU to the loser’s bracket. There they faced Hope International, which lost to Vanguard, getting the afternoon win 4-1 to stay alive in the tournament.

That setup a re-match with the Spirit from OUAZ, which had lost to Vanguard in the winner’s bracket match. TMU got wins from the No. 2 team of Violet Avila/Kassidy Wilson (21-19, 24-22) and the No. 5 team of Faith Tarver/Ellie Niehus (21-13, 21-18) to take a 2-1 advantage. Breanna Brooks/Isabela Rodriguez lost their match in three sets (21-19, 14-21, 12-15) to bring it down to the last match still playing: the No. 1 teams. In a three-set thriller, it was the OUAZ team of Olivia Andersh/Livia De Pra that defeated TMU’s Evi Yates/Annika Booker 16-21, 22-20, 14-16, to send the Spirit to the GSAC Championship match.

“It was very exciting, too exciting for me,” said head coach Annett Davis on that final match. “They fought hard, and every single girl on our team fought hard. They all raised their level of play and played with a kind of grit. No one ever gave up. They believed they could win. You could see in their determination they believed they could win. They played the highest level of volleyball they played all season.”

Davis went on to talk about what stood out to her most with her team during the tournament.

“Our character,” she said. “We are going to serve Christ no matter what the adversity. I tell them, winning or losing, who you are and how you represent Christ on the court is the important thing. Other coaches told me how impressed they were with how well (the TMU team) represented the Lord on the court. That put a smile on my face.”

Part of the festivities of the GSAC Championship Tournament was presenting the 2023 All-GSAC team. The Master’s Violet Avila, Annika Booker and Evi Yates were honored as All-GSAC.

The Sandy Stangs, currently ranked No. 8 in the NAIA Top 10 poll, now wait to see if they will get an at-large berth to the NAIA Beach Volleyball National Championship Tournament to be held April 20-22 in Panama City Beach, Fla. Only six teams participate in the NAIA tournament.