The EMU volleyball men dropped a tight battle at home Saturday afternoon, falling 3-2 to Thiel College in an important CVC contest.  The Royals skid into a three-way tie for fourth place in the league standings.  Only the top four teams make the postseason conference tournament.

Set one saw each team have some big runs before Eastern Mennonite closed out a 26-24 win by scoring the final three points.

Thiel took big leads early in both set two and set three, making each stick in a 25-17 and 25-19 decisions.  The Royals worked out of an early hole in set four with a handful of short spurts.  Then they came from behind with the final points in a 27-25 win to force a deciding fifth set.

EMU scored the first two points in the rubber match, but then fell behind 4-2.  The Royals fought back and forged a tie at 8-8, and again at 9-9 and 10-10.  The Tomcats worked back in front 12-10 before Eastern Mennonite skipped ahead with three straight.  Kyle Storc (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) knocked down a kill to give the men a 13-12 lead, but Thiel had the final run, scoring three in a row to steal the 15-13 clincher.

The Tomcats had an edge at the net in the match, both offensively and defensively, but EMU stayed in it with their serving.  The Royals landed eight aces with ten errors, while Thiel had only four aces and 15 errors.

Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) was the workhorse, firing a match high 25 kills on 72 swings, to go with his five service aces.  Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) added nine kills and three aces while Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had six kills with a .308 attack percentage.  Russell Long (Hampton, Va./Bethel) had 31 assists in three sets while Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) lofted 17 in two.

In the back row, Micah Buller (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) picked up 21 digs.  Marc Lovell (Newport News, Va./Menchville) added 15, Brigham had 13 and Callahan had 12.  Lutz had a team best four blocks.

Michael Whitelock led four Tomcats in double figures with 16 kills.  John Turner landed 14 with 17 digs and nine blocks.  Colin Vitale had 22 digs while Regan Hess racked up 11 block assists.

Eastern Mennonite's men, now 5-5 overall, head to the metro New York area for a Spring Break trip, playing four matches in four days.  The stretch starts Monday at John Jay, with start time at 6:00pm.