SANTA CLARITA, Calif. – The top two men's volleyball teams in the Golden State Athletic Conference and the NAIA clashed at a sold out MacArthur Center on Friday, and No. 2 The Masters avenged its earlier loss to top-ranked Vanguard with a commanding 25-18, 25-22, 25-16 triumph.

The Lions (11-1, 6-1 GSAC) lost for the first time this season and had their 15-match winning streak come to an end. 

VU tied a season-low for hitting percentage (.250) and had their worst statistical performance in kills (26), assists (24) and aces (0). It was the first time since Feb. 9, 2022, that the Lions failed to record a single ace in a match, a span of 54 contests.

Combining that with TMU's motivation to erase the taste of its five-set reverse sweep loss to VU on Feb. 24, the Lions could not overcome their struggles.

Will Anderson, who had 24 and 26 kills in his previous two matches, tallied a season-low tying six on .176 hitting. Andrew Sheveland led the Lions with seven kills as he hit .400 (7-1-15) for the match. Micah Sybesma added four kills and a team-high four blocks.

Diego Perez led TMU with a match-high 12 kills and Braden Van Groningen added nine. The Mustangs hit .272 (38-16-81).

VU won the battle at the net with a 6.5-4.0 blocking advantage. Four of the team's blocks were solo.

The Mustangs improved to 16-2 overall and 5-1 in the GSAC. The Lions still led the conference standings by a half game.
 

What Happened?

Set 1 – The two teams were tied 6-6, but the Mustangs sped away with a 5-0 run as Perez slammed three straight kills.

TMU used another 4-0 run to expand the lead to 16-8 as Van Groningen collected back-to-back kills, and the Lions got no closer than five points the rest of the way.

Set 2 – VU held an early one-point lead on three occasions. TMU scored three straight to take a 6-4 lead, but the Lions tied the match at 7-7 – one of five ties in the set.

The last tie occurred at 11-11, when the Mustangs went on a 7-3 run to grab an 18-14 lead. Mason Mullins and Patrick Paragas had a pair of combined blocks during the surge.

The Lions pulled within 18-16 after a TMU service error and attack error, but the Mustangs sprinted away with four straight points as Paragas dropped in a pair of aces, sandwiched around Perez and Isaac Seltzer kills.

TMU led 23-17 when VU made a last ditch effort, scoring four in a row to climb within two. Sybesma teamed up with Anderson on one play and Leilua Kruse on another to stuff a pair of Mustangs during the run.

However, the Mustangs took set two 25-22 as Seltzer had TMU's final two kills.

Set 3 – Kruse gave the Lions a 1-0 lead with a kill, but the Mustangs set the tone with a 5-0 run – all on kills by Perez, Seltzer or Will Avera.

The Mustangs peppered the Lions with a second straight 5-0 burst to take a 10-2 lead, and cruised to victory from there.

The Lions trailed by as many as 10 points at 21-11. Perez closed out the match with a kill as TMU won the third set 25-16.

Why Is It Important?: VU suffered its first loss by sweep since falling 3-0 at Arizona Christian on March 18, 2023.

What's Next?: The Lions get a much needed two-week break before returning to action on Friday, April 5 at Arizona Christian.