By Don Gilmore, TMU Assistant Sports Editor

TMU head coach Allan Vince was right about several things.

He anticipated that Wednesday’s early match (8 a.m.) against Aquinas of Michigan on the second day of the La Sierra Tournament was going to be a battle.

He also expected to win.

And, win The Master’s University did, shaking off a first-set loss to the Saints before rolling to a 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 27-25 victory.

Six hours later, the Mustangs won in four sets again, toppling tournament host La Sierra 25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19.

The two victories capped a 4-0 tournament and kept the Mustangs perfect at 8-0 through the first week of the 2018 campaign.

The seventh of those eight wins didn’t come easy as Aquinas outscored the Mustangs 10-3 down the stretch in the opening set, turning a four-point deficit into a 25-22 victory.

That seemed to wake up the Mustangs, who led virtually wire-to-wire in the second set, rallied from an eight-point deficit to win the third, and went to “extras” to wrap up the match in the fourth set.

Consecutive kills by Rebecca Davis and Jane Cisar wrapped up the 27-25 victory.

Regan Tate and Madi Fay paced the Mustangs with 14 kills apiece against the Saints while Kayla Sims had a team-high 28 assists.

In the nightcap, the Mustangs raced to wins in the first two sets, hit a bump in the third, and then finished off the host Golden Eagles in the fourth.

Cisar led the Mustangs with 15 kills in the match while Madi Fay and Sims had 12 and 11, respectively. Sims, who had 28 assists in the victory over Aquinas, matched that against La Sierra. McKenna Hafner led all players with 17 digs.

After extending their best-ever start since 2012 to eight victories, the Mustangs will get a few days off before showcasing their strong play on the home hardwood of Bross Court for the first time in 2018 on Saturday when they host Marymount in a 4:00pm start.