COSTA MESA – Behind 16 kills and .800 hitting from Brett Norkus, No. 4 seed The Master's shocked top-seeded Vanguard in five sets in the semifinals of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday at The Pit.

Set scores went 24-26, 25-23, 17-25, 25-16, 15-9.

The Mustangs (13-10) advance to Saturday's championship match against the winner of No. 2 seed OUAZ and No. 3 Menlo in the other semifinals. The Lions fell to 16-6. VU awaits the NAIA Selection Show to see whether they are selected as an at-large in the NAIA Championship.

What Happened?: Norkus did not commit an error in 20 attempts as he spearheaded a Mustang team that hit .400 for the match against the Lions. Three other Mustangs reached double figures in kills as Will Avera had 12, Trent Norkus 10 and Ben Herb 10.

The Master's also received a match-high 17 digs from Diego Perez.

Matthew Roussin (SR/Anaheim Hills, CA) led the Lions with a career high 21 kills. He hit a team-best. 472 while adding two service aces, three digs and two block assists. Kyle Anema (SR/La Mirada, CA) contributed 17 kills and 12 digs for his third double-double of the season.

The Lions outblocked the Mustangs 12.5-8.0 with Cody Watts (JR/Clovis, CA) leading the way with seven block assists.

VU hit .331 for the match.

Set 1

Tightly contested from start to finish, there were 17 ties in the set before the Lions took extra points to pull away with the 26-24 victory.

The Master's had a 21-19 lead as Brett Norkus and Wyatt Bates blocked an Anema attempt. However, the Lions fired back with three straight on kills by Christian Nowtash (SR/Vista, CA) and Anema, and a double stuff from Nowtash and Anema.

The teams were tied at 24-all when consecutive Mustang attack errors gave Vanguard the set one win.

Set 2

The Master's reversed their fortunes in the second set, taking an 8-4 lead on a Herb kill. The Lions continued to trail by four, 12-8, but went on an 8-3 run to grab a 16-15 lead. The Lion blocking brigade was in full effect as Watts was in on three stuffs.

But the Mustangs responded with four of the next five points to retake the lead at 19-17 as Herb's kill forced a VU timeout. The Lions regrouped and tied the score at 20-20 on Roussin's putaway.

The score was still tied at 23-23, but The Master's picked up the last two points on an VU service error and another kill from Herb.

Set 3

VU hit .652 (16-1-23) in the set to come away with a commanding 25-17 victory. The Lions turned a 9-6 lead into an 14-8 gap as Roussin pounded a couple of kills.

VU widened the lead to seven, 21-14, on another double block – this time by Nowtash and Bryce Thompson (SR/Los Alamitos, CA). A 4-0 VU run extended the lead to 23-14. Three straight Mustang points cut the lead to seven, but it was not enough as a service error ended the set.

Set 4

Trailing two sets to one, The Master's didn't mess around with a dominating performance in the fourth frame. The Mustangs hit a torrid .789 with 15 kills and no errors in 19 attempts.

The Lions fought point for point and trailed by just one, 14-13. But the Mustangs utilized a 5-0 burst as two kills from Braden Van Groningen and another from Will Avera created some space.

Leading 19-13, the Mustangs kept the pressure on and led by as many as eight late in the set. Johnny Buchanan's service ace gave The Master's a 25-16 victory.

Set 5

The Master's continued their sizzling hitting, swinging at a .467 (8-1-15) clip in the decisive fifth set. Over the final two sets, the Mustangs hit an incredible .647 (23-1-34).

VU trailed by just one at 4-3, but another damaging Mustang run put the Lions on the defensive. The Mustangs got two kills from Brett Norkus as part of a 4-0 run that opened up an 8-3 lead.

The Lions got no closer than four the rest of the way. Van Groningen's ace put the Mustangs up 13-6, and Herb ended the match with his 10th kill.

What's Next?: The Lions will watch the NAIA Championship Selection Show on Monday, April 4 at 2:00 p.m. (PT) on the NAIA's Facebook page.