Fullerton, CA – The Hope International women's volleyball team (5-17, 4-10 GSAC) fell to The Master's University Mustangs 3-1 on Friday evening in the Darling Pavilion in Fullerton, CA

The Royals took an early 8-5 lead in the first set, but the Mustangs came back to tie it 10-10. From there it was a back-and-forth battle as the teams exchanged leads before the Mustangs went on a 5-0 run to take a 20-15 lead. The Royals continued to battle but eventually fell 25-20 and trailed 1-0. The second set began slow as the Royals trailed 4-3 but they fought back with an 8-0 run led by two aces from Madison Haugh to take an 11-4 lead. The Mustangs crawled back into the game as they got within 13-8 but the Royals used a 4-0 run led by a big kill from Sofia Ramdhani as they took a commanding 17-9 lead. From there the Royals closed out the set 25-18 and tied the game 1-1. The third set was a battle as both teams looked to take control with the Royals staking out an early 8-4 lead led by two kills from Cassidy Koffroth. The Mustangs would fight back though as they regained the lead at 9-8. From there the Mustangs would go on to pull away and take set three 25-16 and a 2-1 lead. The Royals started with the first two points of set four but the Mustangs came right back on a 5-0 run to take a 5-2 lead. From there the two teams went back and forth with two point runs as the Mustangs extended their advantage to 14-9. The Royals didn't give up though and responded with a 5-0 run led by two kills from Savannah Salter to tie it 14-14. The Mustangs after a timeout answered with an 8-2 run to take a commanding 22-16 lead. Koffroth scored two late kills for the Royals but it was to little to late as the Mustangs prevailed 25-18 and 3-1. Ramdhani and Carissa Wiles led the Royals with 9 kills each.

The Royals continue GSAC play tomorrow as they travel up the coast to Santa Barbara, CA to take on Westmont College on Saturday, October 22 at 6:00 PM.