Playing without a starting middle can really change the dynamic of a team, and Eastern Mennonite hit that problem Thursday night in Mahwah, NJ. With 6-7 sophomore John Grove (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run) out for the match the Royals struggled to get their attack in order in a 3-0 loss to Metro rival Ramapo.

EMU moved freshman Augusto Lau (Miami, Fl./Coral Reef) into the starting setter position and moved set-up man John Barry (Aaron Bridge, Oh./Worthington Kilbourne) to a hitter spot. While the Royals adjusted to the new lineup in game one, Ramapo clicked on all cylinders and ran away with a 25-14 win.

The men settled down in the second game and led most of the way. With a 23-20 edge, the Royals made a couple of errors and Ramapo tied the score at 23-23. EMU scored a point to move to game point, but another 3-0 run by the Roadrunners gave the home team a 26-24 steal.

Down 2-0, the Royals were still ready to go and traded leads with the Roadrunners much of the way in game three. But Ramapo broke off a 20-20 tie with three straight points. Back-to-back kills from Chris Moise (Hollywood, Fl./South Broward) got EMU within 24-23, but Ramapo got a kill to end the match with a 25-23 win.

Moise was the lone Royal to finish with a positive attack percentage as the men hit just 0.038 as a team. The sophomore had nine kills. Nolan Prock (Virginia Beach, Va./Frank W. Cox) added seven kills and a match high 11 digs.

Greg Knight (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) led defensively with five blocks. Lau finished with 21 assists.

The loss drops EMU to 8-9 overall and 5-2 in NECVA Metro play. The Royals need to regroup quickly as they take on No. 6 Philadelphia Biblical in a Metro matchup Saturday at noon.