MASTER'S IS GOING ON NATIONAL STAGE.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

NEWHALL - The Master's College women's volleyball team isn't taking many breathers. The chance to play for a national championship is too enticing to pass up.

The Mustangs head to Marion, Ind., this week for the National Christian College Athletic Association championships after receiving the West Region's at-large berth. It's the first appearance in a national tournament of any kind for the program.

Pool play in the eight-team tournament begins Thursday. The Mustangs' opener is at 2 p.m. (PST) against Union University (Tenn.). At 6 p.m., the fifth-seeded Master's plays defending NCCAA champion and top seed Olivet Nazarene (Ill.). Two more pool-play matches, against Cedarville University (Ohio) and Pensacola Christian (Fla.), conclude the preliminary round Friday.

The top two teams in each pool advance to Saturday's championship round. So the Mustangs conceivably can play six times in three days in the middle of a brutal stretch of Golden State Athletic Conference matches.

Coach Karen Peterson said excitement about traveling to the tournament has been put on hold so her team could focus on this important portion of GSAC play. The Master's has a chance to sneak into the NAIA Region II tournament with a strong GSAC finish.

But the players, particularly the seniors, don't seem to mind the extra assignments.

``When I found out we were going to the national tournament, I was excited,'' senior Erika Sansoni said. ``Because you think you're never going to make it to your senior year, and then all of a sudden it's the end of the season and you want to play a little bit more.''

The Mustangs are aware of the school's NCCAA success. The men's soccer and golf teams have won the national championship in the past year, and the women lost in the finals last November.

``It's going to be busy, but it's going to be worth it,'' senior middle blocker Kat Kern said. ``You have that ranking (No. 8 in the NCCAA) under your belts, that sense of, `We've accomplished something in our season.' I think it's good for team morale to have something to focus on.''

--No easy ones: It's unsure whether the GSAC's volleyball schedule makers had a vendetta for the Mustangs or just a cruel sense of humor. Why else would anyone have to endure a string of challenges such this?

The Mustangs will have played all five of the conference's ranked teams in the midst of the NCCAA Tournament. The run began with No. 6 Azusa Pacific sweeping The Master's last Thursday at Bross Gym. Second-ranked Fresno Pacific (29-0, 14-0) was in Newhall late Tuesday night.

Next week features three games in five days - Tuesday at No. 21 Westmont, Friday against visiting No. 12 Point Loma Nazarene and Saturday against visiting Christian Heritage (receiving votes in the NAIA rankings) - before completing the regular season at Vanguard and home against 14th-ranked Biola.

At 7-7, The Master's is in seventh place, a half-game behind Christian Heritage and two behind Westmont and Biola, which at 9-5 hold down the final two spots for the regional tournament. The Mustangs can make things interesting with victories over those teams.

``I told the team that we need at least two wins against those teams,'' said Peterson, whose best opportunities to achieve that goal are next week's matches with Westmont (a four-game winner at The Master's on Sept. 27) and Christian Heritage (won in five at El Cajon on Oct. 2). At least a split and then a victory over Biola would make a solid bid for the regional championships.

The Mustangs had a similar schedule in the first round of GSAC play, but most of those matches were on the road. Now they'll get Christian Heritage, Point Loma and Biola at Bross Gym.

``We play better at home. Not that I'm expecting straight wins from here on out,'' Kern said last week of the remaining GSAC matches. ``But I'm excited about what's going to happen because I think there'll be some upsets.''

--Better days ahead: The cross country teams were overmatched at last Saturday's GSAC championships at Fresno's Woodward Park. The men's team finished eighth in the nine-team field and the Mustangs' women were 10th.

The good news is both teams are young. Of the men's five scoring runners, four are underclassmen, and No. 1 finisher Josh Moore is a sophomore and No. 2 Jon-Michael Allen a freshman.

The women's top finisher was junior Amie Jackson, and freshman Hannah Phillips also had a good performance.