After falling just short of an NAIA championship in 2024, The Master’s University men’s volleyball program is gearing up for what they hope will be another long season in 2025.  And as they do every year, the Mustangs are preparing for that by playing a number of Division I opponents in preseason action, including recently hosting the Princeton Tigers.  Despite an apparent gulf in class between the NAIA Mustangs and the NCAA DI Tigers, TMU won the match in a sweep.  Jared Goldberg, head coach at TMU and a former assistant coach at Harvard University, rivals of Ivy League foe Princeton, said the small number of DI men’s volleyball teams — there are currently 28 across the entire NCAA and an additional 32 at the Division II level — means NAIA schools like TMU are actually closer in quality to them than would be initially thought.  TMU middle blocker Max McCullough (3) puts the ball over the net against Princeton middle blocker Ryan Vena (4) and setter Nolan Kelly (24) during the first set of Tuesday’s game at The Master’s University on Jan. 7. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal “Because of the smaller number of teams,” Goldberg said in a recent phone interview, “I think there’s a little bit more openness to play outside your division, if you’re a bigger-name school … Our players are used to it and expect it, but it’s always fresh and unique for our student body and our community here at Master’s, doing something that a lot of the other sports aren’t quite able to do in their schedule, getting these bigger-name programs. And so it’s really good because it’s not unique to our program. It’s not weird for our players. So, we’re able to go and play pretty freely.”  Playing all of his starters right from the start, Goldberg said Princeton had one of its best players on the bench in the first set before realizing how tough TMU would make it for the Tigers.  TMU celebrates a point against Princeton during the first set of Tuesday’s game at The Master’s University on Jan. 7. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal “Really good match for us, played well, especially beginning of the year,” Goldberg said. “We were pretty sharp. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that we played a lot this past fall.”  The Mustangs have been busy, playing in tournaments across the West Coast during the fall. They’ve made stops at Fresno State, UCLA, USC, and Long Beach State while also hosting UC Irvine.  “We’re pretty sharp,” Goldberg said, “whereas a lot of other teams at this point really early in the year are still figuring out a lot of things, and so I think that contributed a lot to us being able to take that match”  Last year’s TMU squad that went to the NAIA championship featured six All-Americans out of the seven starters. Four of them — senior Braden Von Groningen, sophomore Preston Schmidt, graduate student Will Avera and junior Isaac Seltzer — return to the team for 2025.  TMU outside hitter Braden Van Groningen (18) goes up for a block against Princeton outside hitter Nyherowo Omene (25) during the first set of Tuesday’s game at The Master’s University on Jan. 7. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal Also looking to contribute this year are senior Max McCullough, freshman Trace Oswald and junior Matthew Hamm.  McCullough transferred from Concordia University Irvine after being a three-year starter there while Oswald is a freshman outside hitter who helped his club team to a top-five finish nationally before making his way to TMU.  Hamm started at TMU his freshman year before taking a back seat this past season with Patrick Paragas, last year’s NAIA Player of the Year, taking over setting duties.  “He was running the offense the other night,” Goldberg said of Hamm.  TMU celebrates a point against Princeton during the first set of Tuesday’s game at The Master’s University on Jan. 7. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal The Mustangs are set to begin their regular season on Friday, Jan. 31, at Concordia University Irvine. Great Southwest Athletic Conference play is scheduled to begin March 7 at Park University Gilbert in Gilbert, Arizona.  Also on the schedule are DI Stanford and NAIA power Vanguard University.  “The next few weeks is just challenging ourselves and seeing kind of where we stack up against the best in the country at all levels,” Goldberg said, “and then once we get in the conference, that kind of reset, we should be right in the mix at the end of the year as well, assuming we stay healthy.”  TMU opposite hitter Carston Saelzler (1) goes up for a hit against Princeton during the first set of Tuesday’s game at The Master’s University on Jan. 7. Habeba Mostafa/ The Signal The post TMU men’s volleyball sweeps Princeton in preseason tune-up  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.