Behind a powerful serve, The Master’s University men’s volleyball team did what they had to do to get past Olivet Nazarene (IL) 25-11, 24-26, 25-22, 25-16 Saturday night, March 1 in The MacArthur Center.

The Mustangs (9-0) collected 12 service aces in the four sets and took the advantage in kills (48-30), which led to a .352 hitting percentage.

But the Tigers’ block proved stronger than TMU’s, with a 10-8 difference.

“Olivet Nazarene played well,” said TMU Head Coach Jared Goldberg. “We fought. Our guys need to get better.”

What first looked like an easy sweep for the NAIA’s No. 1 team became much more difficult when ONU took the second set. It was the first set The Master’s had lost in the last four matches.

The third set began to take on a decidedly different tone as the Mustangs jumped out to a 10-6 lead. But the Tigers then scored six in a row to take a 12-10 lead. After trading points and ONU going up 17-16, TMU scored four of the next five points to go up 20-18. The teams traded points again until a Tigers’ attack error gave the set to The Master’s.

With a 2-1 set advantage, the Mustangs wasted little time in establishing themselves in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead and keeping a foot on the gas from there on out. The team finished out the set getting the final four points to win by nine and take the match in four.

Braden Van Groningen led the way with 15 kills and a .520 hitting percentage. Ezra Vlad had 12 kills and just one hitting error to hit .688 for the match. Isaac Laing tallied 30 assists with Bryce Jones adding another 10. Defensively, both Vlad and Carston Saelzler had four blocks and Preston Schmidt led the team with 13 digs.

The Master’s will host the Jimmies of the University of Jamestown (SD) Wednesday night, March 5 in The MacArthur Center. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.