EMU's volleyball men got their Continental Volleyball Conference slate started off on the right foot, grabbing a 3-2 win at Cairn University Friday evening in Langhorne, Pa.  The Royals won the first two sets but had to sweat out a full-length match to down the Highlanders.

After falling in a quick hole to open the night, Eastern Mennonite's men held a slight edge much of game one.  They made it stick in a 25-23 decision.  The teams traded leads in the second before the Royals used a 3-0 spurt to skip in front 23-22.  Play continued past 25 before back-to-back kills from Marc Lovell (Newport News, Va./Menchville) and Jesse Reist (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) earned the men a 27-25 win.

Cairn used a couple of short runs to gain the edge in game three and keep play going with a 25-21 win.  Game four was full of wild swings, as the Highlanders jumped to a 14-8 lead.  EMU came back with a big surge to get in front 16-15, but the home team seesawed back in the lead and took a 25-21 win.

The Royals built some momentum early in the deciding game and streaked out to a 9-3 advantage.  Cairn crept back before EMU closed the door on a 15-9 decision.

After missing the first four matches of the year with an injury, Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) returned with a vengeance.  The sophomore outside smashed a career high 25 kills with a .250 attack percentage and added 11 digs.  Middle Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) was also a force, landing six kills on just ten swings, while getting his hands on eight blocks, including two solo.

Lovell added eight kills and ten digs and Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) had 15 digs.  Reist finished with four aces.  Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) had 42 assists and four blocks.

Andy Willits led Cairn with 19 kills and four blocks, while Randall Colson had 17 kills.

Now 4-1 overall, the Royals will look to improve on their 1-0 CVC record with a match at Rutgers-Newark Saturday at 2:00pm.  As the newest team in the CVC, the Scarlet Raiders swept Marymount Friday night at home in their first-ever match in the conference.