Aubrey Pyburn led the Lady Mustangs with nine kills.

Knowing that each win is valuable in the final stretch of the season, The Master’s College volleyball team stepped up its play Tuesday evening to beat the Hope International University Royals in three sets.

With the win, TMC raises its record to 19-11 (9-6 GSAC), taking sole possession of fourth-place in the conference standings after winning with set scores of 25-16, 25-22, and 25-19.

TMC’s offensive surge was led by Aubrey Pyburn (Burbank, CA) who had a team-high 29 attacks, while Allison Child (Shingle Springs, CA) logged 21. Ashley Kuhlman (Henderson, NV) produced 18 attacks, eight kills, and a game-high attack percentage of .444.

In the first set, the Lady Mustangs quickly found themselves behind. However, TMC took the lead at 6-5 after a kill by Pyburn. The Royals did not respond to the Lady Mustang’s resurging offense, as they failed to tie or take a lead for the rest of the set.

The second set was full of action as both teams took turns nabbing the lead from one another.  With 12 lead changes in total, the Lady Mustang used a strong finish to take the set.  With the score tied 20-20, the Lady Mustangs took advantage of a back-to-back HIU errors to go up by two.  After Hope answered back with a kill, Child delivered her fifth kill of the frame to further the Mustangs’ lead. While a TMC error set the score at 23-22, the Royals followed by committing two errors to drop the set at 25-22.

Set three was all Mustangs, as they came out to a quick 10-1 start and did not allow the Royals to lock up the score.  Pyburn opened the set with a kill and slammed it closed with another, adding two more in between.

Leading the conference in service aces, TMC added 10 more as Aubrey Bekendam (Orland, CA), Britney Jones (Northridge, CA), Sydney Hamilton (Santa Clarita, CA), and Kuhlman each had two a piece while Olivia Gwinn (Santa Clarita, CA) and Emily Clark (Lake Forest, CA) both added one.

With playoff hopes still alive, the Lady Mustangs have a difficult task ahead of them as they host No. 4 Biola University Saturday evening in the regular-season finale.

First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.