Anytime the Royals have Philadelphia Biblical on the schedule, they have the date circled. The two are conference rivals, often fighting for the top spot. Saturday's date in Harrisonburg was even bigger than normal, as the Crimson Eagles were just two matches removed from an upset of No. 1 Springfield. Eastern Mennonite had the momentum for most of game one before losing the set and eventually the match, 3-0.

EMU used a 5-0 run early in the game to go ahead 10-5. The visitors regrouped, but the Royals still led at 19-16.

Philadelphia Biblical then caught fire and stole the edge with a 7-1 run, pulling out a 25-22 win.

The loss took the wind out of the sails for Eastern Mennonite. Game two was all PBU in a 25-15 win. The Royals fell behind 6-2 in set three and never led, falling 25-19.

Chris Moise (Hollywood, Fl./South Broward) led EMU with 10 kills. Nolan Prock (Virginia Beach, Va./Frank W. Cox) was second with seven kills.

Senior middle Frankie Coto (Miami, Fl./Southwest Miami) had five blocks in the game, including one solo, which tied him with 2010 grad Justin Reesor for the EMU Career Blocks record. Both players now have 462 blocks.

Kendall Garber (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) had a team high eight digs.

Justin Brubaker led Philadelphia Biblical with 20 kills.

The loss drops Eastern Mennonite to 8-10 overall and 5-3 in NECVA Metro play. PBU is 11-2 and 6-0. The Royals play at NECVA opponent Stevenson next Wednesday with game time at 7:00pm.