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OUAZ Athletics

MVB_02/28/2025
MVB_03/30/25
3
Winner The Master's THE MAST 17-0, 6-0
0
OUAZ OUAZ 7-8, 2-4
Winner
The Master's THE MAST
17-0, 6-0
3
Final
0
OUAZ OUAZ
7-8, 2-4
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
The Master's THE MAST 25 25 25 (3)
OUAZ OUAZ 14 15 21 (0)
3
Winner Hope International HOPE INT 13-6, 4-3
1
OUAZ OUAZ 7-9, 2-5
Winner
Hope International HOPE INT
13-6, 4-3
3
Final
1
OUAZ OUAZ
7-9, 2-5
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Hope International HOPE INT 18 31 25 25 (3)
OUAZ OUAZ 25 29 21 17 (1)

Game Recap: Men's Volleyball | | Jas Singh

OUAZ Drops Two Top 15 Conference Matches to End Homestand

Surprise, Ariz.- OUAZ Men's Volleyball took on the likes of #1 Masters University on Friday evening and #15 Hope International on Saturday afternoon dropping both games. The first game ended (14-25) (15-25) (21-25) and the match against Hope ended (25-18) (29-31) (21-25) (17-25). The losses put the Spirit at (7-9) overall and (2-5) in conference play.

The Spirit had their hands full against the #1 ranked Master's University who hasn't dropped a game since the National Championship last year. The undefeated Mustangs sitting at (18-0) gave a consistent Spirit offense fits all night. Caeden Salmen, was the Spirit's top hitter hitting .353 on 9 kills. Defensively, the Spirit did many things right, holding the nation's top outside hitter in Braden Van Groningen to only 5 kills on 14 attempts. However, the Spirit offense came out slow in the first two sets and were struggling to side out and keep the ball in play. The Spirit truly picked it up in the third set. After going down big in sets 1 and 2, a couple OUAZ subs came in and made an instant impact. Even with such a high powered offense the Spirit remained close, going down by three several times throughout the set, but were able to string some points together to cut the deficit. After a clutch Caeden Salmen kill, the Spirit saw themselves down only one at 17-18. However, the Mustangs would follow that with a run of their own pushing the lead to 22-19. The Spirit tailed behind and got into the 20 range with a Corey Johnson angle kill, but were not able to stop the Mustangs from stringing together their own run to end the game.

On Saturday afternoon, the Spirit faced the Royals of Hope International who they almost had an 5 set upset victory over on their Southern California road trip in early March. Horatio Maumasi, once again had a big night which at this point in this season is just the usual for the 6'4 middle from Henderson, Nevada. Maumasi accounted for 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage with 3 block assists and 4 digs. The sophomore was a clear mismatch on HIU middles and Jonathan Worden took advantage, feeding him consistently throughout the game. Freshman phenom Jack Hubbard, had a solid afternoon getting a team high 35 attempts, putting away 13 of them earning him a .229 hitting percentage. Hubbard also had some tough serving with 2 service aces to go along with his great statistical night. Bodhi Bettes provided some great defense against a big Royal outside attack with 21 digs. The Peoria native has had some great defensive stretches against powerhouse GSAC offenses that need to be talked about more.

Set 1 was completely neck and neck as both teams did not lead by more than one until the Spirit took over at the 17 point mark. The Ottawa defense did a great job in set one limiting one of the top outsides in the NAIA, in Cole Oliver. Oliver will get his fair share of kills, but Coach Afusia was determined to set up a defense that created fits for him and would make it difficult for him to truly take over. Sitting at 18-17, the Spirit went on a 6-0 run that consisted of a Caeden Salmen ace and two Horatio Maumasi kills. The Spirit eventually closed the set easily, only allowing the Royals to score once more and ending the set on 8-1 run. Set 2 carried the same story from the previous set and was extremely close. Neither team was able to lead by more than two the entire set. In set 2 alone, the Spirit saw 5 set points that would allow them to clinch the set, however just fell short. At 25-24, the Spirit held the momentum but unfortunately missed a serve. Then again had the chance to win up 27-26, however Oliver killed a ball angle saving the set for the Royals. Set 3, was truly the Spirit's set to win. Corey Johnson took over from behind the service line notching back to back service aces putting the Spirit up 10-3 in early set 3. Following a HIU, timeout the Royals put together their own run, but were still down 10-15 following their own service error. OUAZ went up 17-13 after a pair of Horatio Maumasi kills, but then saw Hope storm all the way back cutting the deficit to one after Cole Oliver chopped another angle kill. After cutting the deficit, Hope completely tied the game at 21-21. They closed the set on a gut wrenching 4-0 run. Set 4, started off close as both teams were tied at 10-10. The Royals again went on an impressive stretch that saw them outscore OUAZ 10-4. Finally, ending the game with a Cole Oliver kill and Spirit service error.

OUAZ men's volleyball remains closely in the hunt for a GSAC playoff spot heading into their game on Wednesday, April 2nd against longtime rival Arizona Christian University. The Spirit look to sweep the season series and lock in a playoff spot, in what better then against a rival. The game will be at 6pm in Glendale and can be streamed on the GSAC Sports Network.
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