The EMU volleyball men earned a split Saturday on day two of the Stevenson Tournament, falling to nationally-ranked New Paltz State of NY before battling over Penn-State Altoona.

New Paltz State 3, EMU 1
The Hawks jumped ahead of EMU early in game one but the Royals fought back.  The men had the score tied at 23-23 and at every point all the way to 27-27.  Each team had their chance at game point before New Paltz scored two in a row to win, 29-27.

The No. 7 Hawks had momentum in game two and won, 25-18.  EMU had the edge in game three, however, leading most of the way.  New Paltz tied the score at 23-23 and 24-24 before the Royals scored two straight to win, 26-24.

New Paltz regained momentum and ran away with the win in game four, 25-18.

The Royals hit well on offense, but just couldn't stop the attack of the powerful Hawks.  Chris Moise (Hollywood, FL/South Broward) led all players with 17 kills.  Greg Knight (Chesapeake, VA/Hickory) had his third straight double digit match with 12 kills.  Setter John Barry (Columbus, OH/Worthington Kilbourne) had match highs of 40 assists and nine digs.

Middle hitter Kyle Storc (Westerville, OH/Bishop Watterson) added eight digs, five block assists and one solo stuff.

EMU 3, Penn State-Altoona 0
The match with the Lions had some wild swings.  EMU led by as many as five in game one before PSA roared back and served for game point at 24-21.  The Royals battled back and fended off six game points before scoring three in a row to grab a 29-27 decision.

Game two was close until EMU scored six in a row to grab to an 18-9 lead.  The men continued the surge to a 25-12 win.

Penn State-Altoona led much of game three, pushing to a 24-20 edge.  But the Royals took over by scoring six unanswered points to seal a 26-24 win.

Eastern Mennonite pounded out a .400 team attack percentage.  Jesse Reist (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey East) set a new career high with 16 kills on a .609 attack percentage.  Knight added another double digit effort with 12 kills, while Moise was right behind with 11.  Barry had 44 assists for a 14.7 per game average.

Moise had two service aces, three block assists and a solo stuff.  Joseph Spriggs (Chester, VA/Thomas Dale) had four blocks to go with his seven kills.  Marc Lovell (Newport News, VA/Menchville) had seven digs.  The men gave their starting middles the match off, giving Spriggs and Garrett Delph (Berryville, VA/Leesburg Christian) the start.

The win over the Lions snapped a five-match losing skid and put EMU at 13-10.  The Royals have a week and a half off before their final CVC swing of the year.  EMU hosts Stevenson on Wednesday, April 3.  It's also the final home contest and is Parents/Senior Recognition.