The volleyball women slipped below .500 after a 3-0 loss at Shenandoah Friday night.  More importantly, the Royals (9-10) dropped to 2-6 with the ODAC loss, aiding strain to their three remaining conference matches as they try to qualify for the ODAC Tournament for the first time since 2007.

EMU's women will likely have to win two of the three ODAC contests to get in to the eight-team field.

Eastern Mennonite started strong, holding a small lead in set one all the way until 17-16.  A quick 4-0 run by Shenandoah turned the tables, however, as SU took over for a 25-21 win.

The Royals fell into a quick 8-1 hole in the second set and never recovered in a 25-14 final.  SU scored the first five in the third set and led by as many as eight points at 17-9.  The women didn't give up, using a 6-1 run to force a Hornet timeout.  Janna Williams (Kenbridge, Va./Kenston Forest) landed back-to-back kills to get EMU within 22-20, but home team got the kills they needed to close out a 25-21 clincher.

Maria Yoder (Manheim, Pa./Hempfield) led all players with nine kills on just 14 swings to go with two aces.  Skyler Johnson (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) worked her way to seven kills with eight digs.  Setter Jasmine Johnson (Staunton, Va./Robert E. Lee) had 26 assists, and Alena Yoder (Elkhart, Ind./Bethany Christian) had a match high 13 digs.

Libero Katie Miller (San Antonio, Tex./Brandeis) tied her career low with five digs as Shenandoah tried to the hit the ball away from EMU's career digs leader.  Miller has 1,623 digs over her career, and holds at 10th on the ODAC career leaderboard.  She is just six digs from ninth place and 17 from eighth, meaning she has a reasonable chance to jump the two spots at Saturday's tri-match in Lexington.  The Royals play host Washington and Lee at noon, followed a non-conference date with William Peace at 2:15pm.