When The Master’s University women’s volleyball team flies to Missouri this week to take on the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, it will do so in a different frame of mind than in past years.

The Mustangs have progressed from a group that entered tournament’s such as Columbia College’s Hampton Inn Classic simply hoping to see what the country’s best squads looked like up close, to a unit that believes it can compete with such teams.

Master’s women’s volleyball players demonstrated their maturity in last Wednesday’s home opener, dispatching Westcliff University in three quick sets, 25-15, 25-19 and 25-11.

There were years in the not-so-distant past when a non-conference tune-up such as this could’ve gone sideways. That is rarely the case these days, not with Jane Cisar and Madi Fay playing at insanely efficient levels and with a large group of veterans returning from last year’s conference championship team.

Cisar, among the NAIA’s leaders in hitting percentage in 2018, compiled 10 kills and zero errors on Wednesday night. Her .833 hitting percentage was a single-match career best.

“Jane went off tonight,” said Fay, who added eight kills with one error to help the No. 15-ranked Mustangs women’s volleyball team run away comfortably in each set.

Katie Emmerling totaled a team-high 21 assists, while Fay, who continues to split time between opposite hitter and setter, added 12 assists. Both players were crucial to a Mustang attack that was on point, on time and creative throughout the evening. Regan Tate had six kills and Rebecca Swenning and Emmerling each had four.

McKenna Hafner had nine digs, and Cisar had six total blocks.

The Mustangs (3-2) will now turn their attention to the Hampton Inn Classic in Columbia, where they will face NAIA No. 1 Park University (MO) on Aug. 30 and No. 2 Columbia College (MO) on Aug. 31.

The docket also includes William Woods University (MO) and Olivet Nazarene University (IL) in what promises to be a difficult two-day tournament.
For further context, Park won the 2018 NAIA national championship. Columbia was the runner up. Fay, for her part, isn’t backing down from the challenge.

“I think (we have) a lot more confidence,” she said. “The last couple of years, we kind of went into it saying, ‘We’ll see what happens. This is a learning experience.’ Where now we’re saying, ‘OK, let’s see what we can do. Let’s beat these teams.'”

On last season’s trip to Missouri, the Mustangs took then No. 1-Lindsey Wilson College (KY) to five sets and beat then No. 14-Columbia in a true road match, 3-1.

It was a vast improvement from 2016 at the Spartan Invitational in St. Louis when Master’s won one set in three matches. As you might imagine, Vince saw a dramatic change in his team’s mindset during that time.

“The mindset going four years ago was ‘We’ve got to get out there and show people that we’re going to be competitive,'” Vince said. “And then when we went there, the girls were (in) shock and awe. They saw good teams and they weren’t ready.”

Vince knows his team’s recent success – winning the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title and reaching the NAIA national tournament in 2018 – means other teams won’t take the Mustangs lightly.

“They’re going to be ready for us,” Vince said. “They’re going to scout for us in a way that prepares for what we have. … We’re no longer the blank-slate team that comes in and then they adjust. … No, they’re going to come ready.”

— Game Recap By Mason Nesbitt, TMU Sports Information Director