The Eastern Mennonite men's volleyball team wrapped up their 2013 season Saturday, playing two matches at the CVC East Division Weekend in Langhorne, PA.  The Royals opened the day with a 3-1 loss to No. 8 Juniata, before regrouping for a 3-1 win over Thiel College.

EMU finishes with a 2-6 record in CVC play and misses the six-team postseason conference tournament.  The men are 14-13 overall, earning their first winning campaign since 2008.

Juniata 3, EMU 1
The men kept up with the nationally-ranked Eagles by hitting very well.  As a team, they hit .266, which is a season-best against a CVC opponent.

Juniata led by as many as six points in game one, but the men surged back to a 21-21 tie.  The Eagles closed on a 4-1 run to win, 25-22.

EMU was in firm control of game two, leading by as many as ten points before closing a 25-16 decision.  Game three was close until Juniata pulled away for their own 25-16 win.

The Royals led 17-13 in game four, and were still up 23-21, but the Eagles scored four unanswered to steal a clinching win, 25-23.

Chris Moise (Hollywood, FL/South Broward) hammered 13 kills in just 27 attacks, and added 11 digs.  Greg Knight (Chesapeake, VA/Hickory) had 12 kills and Jesse Reist (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey East) put down 11.  Setter John Barry (Columbus, OH/Worthington Kilbourne) had 44 assists and a match high 13 digs.  John Grove (Glen Allen, VA/Deep Run) led all players with five blocks.

EMU 3, Thiel 1
After dropping three 3-0 losses to Thiel previously this season, the men regrouped to end their year on a positive note.

The Royals made a four-point lead hold for a 25-22 win in game one.  The Tomcats took over for a quick win in game two, 25-16.

EMU sprinted to a 16-10 lead in the key game three, but watched as Thiel tied the score at 17-17.  The men never gave up the lead, however, and pushed to a 26-24 win.  The Royals again had a six-point lead in the fourth game, but cleanly made it stick to end on a 25-19 win.

Moise led the way with 17 kills.  Kyle Storc (Westerville, OH/Bishop Watterson) added eight kills and seven blocks.  Barry, Knight and Grove each had five blocks, with Grove also having three solo stuffs, as the team totaled 16 blocks.

Travis Riesen (Hillsboro, KS/Hillsboro) racked up 16 digs.

Seniors
Five seniors were playing their final match in a Royals' uniform: John Barry, Chris Moise, John Grove, Greg Knight and Travis Riesen.  Barry ends his career second in EMU history in career assists with 3,413 and 12th in career digs with 456.  Moise is sixth in career kills with 843 and 11th in digs at 481.  Grove racked up 223 blocks in his four season, good for fifth in EMU history.