It took nearly two hours and a two-set comeback, but Eastern Mennonite got what they desperately needed – a CVC win at Thiel College.  Friday night's win gives the Royals a season split with Thiel and bumps them a half game in front of the Tomcats for the fourth place in the CVC standings.  Only the top four teams make the postseason tournament.

The volleyball men are now 10-6 overall and 3-5 in the CVC.  The Tomcats are 9-11 and 3-6 in the league.

After a five-set loss to Thiel at home earlier this season, the Royals were geared up for set one.  Neither team led by more than a few points, but EMU had the final say, winning 25-22.

The Tomcats worked to a big lead in the second to even things up, 25-20.  Thiel then quickly dominated again in the third set and despite a strong ending for the Royals, TC took the win, 25-16.

Set four went back and forth, with both teams making mistakes down the stretch.  But Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) tapped in a kill for the last point, forcing the fifth set, 25-23, and giving the men some momentum.

Eastern Mennonite grabbed an early 4-2 lead in the deciding set, and then used a 3-0 run to expand the lead to 11-7.  Back-to-back kills from Brigham closed out a 15-9 clincher.

The Royals were out-hit .168 to .112, but made up for it in two key areas: serving and back row play.  Although neither team managed many service aces, EMU had just 13 service errors compared to 22 for Thiel.  The men also had 15 more digs than their hosts, 82-67.

Brigham led all players with 25 kills, including six in the deciding fifth set.  He also had 17 digs and four blocks.  Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) landed 10 kills with five blocks.  Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) added 12 kills and 11 digs.

Setter Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) put up 49 assists with 10 digs.  Libero Micah Buller (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) topped the team with 21 digs.

Dylan Lasher led Thiel with 14 kills.  Michael Whitelock added 11 kills and five blocks as the Tomcats had 19 blocks as a team.

Eastern Mennonite stays in Pennsylvania to play again on Saturday, taking on Penn State-Behrend at 1:00pm.