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SANTA CLARITA, Calif.— The Cal State San Marcos volleyball team went blow-for-blow with The Master's College in the Opening Round of the NAIA National Tournament, but had their postseason run put to an end by 16th-ranked Mustangs Saturday evening at Bross Gym. The Cougars and Mustangs fought tooth and nail for every point in a mostly-error free match between two heavy hitting teams, but The Master's prevailed 27-25, 28-26, 25-22.

The Cougars couldn't seem to catch a break when they needed one, having several balls miss by just inches for what would have been game-changing points. The teams played the majority of all three sets with neither team boasting more than a two point advantage.

Down 22-21 in the first set, the teams traded points back-and-forth with the Cougars tying it and the Mustangs retaking the single-point lead all the way until 26-25, when TMC outside hitter Sam Dougherty closed out the ultra-tight set with a kill.

Unfazed, the Cougars responded in the second set with six straight points en route to a commanding 8-1 lead. However, the Mustangs bounced right back with 11 of the next 14 points to take a 12-11 lead.

Despite the lopsided runs in each direction, the teams then played point-for-point once again, tying the score every step of the way from 11-11 to 15-15, and again from 18-18 to 26-26. Amazingly, whichever team broke the tie was then beat right back on the next point for a total of 28 points during those two stretches in the second set. The see-saw battle on the scoreboard looked like a ping-pong match on the court, with balls being slammed and adeptly maneuvered in all-directions at an incredible pace of play.

Eventually, the Mustangs closed out the second set with a key block, and looked to have all momentum by jumping out to an early 5-1 lead in the third set. Yet the resilient Cougars battled their way back once again, keeping things close up to a 19-19 tie. However, the Cougars would not be able to find the equalizing point late in this set like they did so many previous times in the sets prior, and fell on the last of Morgan Fay's season-high 12 kills for the Mustangs.

CSUSM had several players with big performances, and played sound volleyball throughout. Taylor DeGraaf was all over the court for the Cougars, recording a game-high 14 kills and a team best 15 digs, while libero Taylor Harris added 14 digs of her own against a hard hitting Master's squad.

Alyssa Foster had a nice night quarterbacking the offense with 34 assists, and Markisha Henderson-Diaz and Kara Barkdoll took advantage with seven kills apiece. Brittani Esposito also tallied double-digit digs with 10, and DeGraaf and Morgan Willis were each responsible for four blocks each.

"We matched up very well tonight against a tough opponent and fought every single point, even feeling as though we had them beat in some areas," said head coach Andrea Leonard summing up the match.

"I'm very happy with our performance and fighting spirit, we put ourselves in positions to win but fell just a tad short. We had a young team out there with a fantastic environment to play in, thanks to all the support of fellow Cougars and fans holding their own with the Mustang crowd. We're very excited to continue to building off this going forward."

The Cougars finished their 2013 campaign with a 26-12 record, and capped off their third appearance in the NAIA National Tournament in just their third season as a program.  The Cougars have a bright future to look forward to, losing no seniors from this year's team and also returning a few key players from injury in 2014.