The Eastern Mennonite University men's volleyball team split a two-game set at the Nazareth Tournament as the Royals defeated Medaille College 3-1 in the first match, but fell 3-0 to Steven's Institute of Technology in the second match of the day.

Against Medaille College, game scores were 30-23, 27-30, 30-20, and 30-27. In the match against Steven's, game scores were 30-28, 30-19, 30-22.

Junior middle Justin Reesor (Stouffville, Ontario/Stouffville District) had 19 kills while sophomore setter Shane Holderby (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) notched 76 assists, 17 digs, a solo block, and eight block assists in the two matches.

Against Medaille, sophomore middle Frankie Coto (Miami, Fla./Southwest Miami) had 11 kills, five digs, and five assisted blocks. Freshman Cody Kennedy (Newport News, Va./Menchville) led the way with 15 kills while freshman outside John Bottles (Williamsburg, Va./Jamestown) had a team leading 10 digs.

Senior libero Cory Parsons (Colmar, Pa./Christopher Dock) had nine digs.

In the three game match against Steven's, Reesor had a team leading 10 kills while Kennedy (eight kills) and Coto (seven kills) added to the Royal attack. Parsons had 12 digs in the match while freshman outside Austin Jones (Midlothian, Va./Crosby) had six kills.

The Royals will now compete against host Nazareth College and Vassar College on Saturday, February 14, in the second day of competition.