The Royals split their two matches on Saturday, dropping a key conference match against Marymount before ending on a high note with a sweep over Rust College.  The volleyball men are now 13-7 overall and 3-6 in the CVC as they head into the final week of the regular season.

Marymount 3, EMU 0
The Royals gave up the first two points in the first set and played a few points down the entire way.  They were down 16-10 before scoring four in a row to get back in.  The men fought off two set points before tying the score up at 24-24.  But back-to-back kills from the Saints won the opener for the visitors, 26-24.

Set two had a handful of momentum swings before Marymount surged to a 19-11 lead.  The Royals regrouped, but not enough to hold off MU in a 25-19 decision.  Things unraveled in the third, as the Saints used a 9-0 run to blow open a 12-2 start.  EMU never recovered in a 25-10 clincher.

Eastern Mennonite hit -.026 as a team, compared to .342 for Marymount.  Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) had 10 kills but also 11 errors.  Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had four kills on just seven swings.  Zach Guiciardi (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) put up 24 set assists.  Kyle Storc (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) led the team with four blocks.

MU's TJ Wiechecki led all players with 16 kills while Tomasz Ksiazkiewicz had eight of his team's 12 blocks.

EMU 3, Rust 0
The men got a short break while Marymount shook off Rust, and then the Royals took on the Bearcats.  With it being Senior Recognition Day, Coach Dominick Porter got to experiment with his lineup, not only getting all three of his seniors playing time from different positions on the floor, but also getting all of his healthy players into the contest.

Eastern Mennonite was in firm control in a sweep, winning by scores of 25-9, 25-9 and 25-13.

The Royals hit a season best .390 as a team, committing just nine errors on 59 attacks.  Jesse Reist Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) landed seven kills with no errors on nine swings to go with his five service aces.  Garrett Delph (Berryville, Va./Leesburg Christian) added six kills on nine attempts.  Storc had four kills and two blocks.  Fellow senior Marc Lovell (Newport News, Va./Menchville) spent two of his three sets as the team's setter, coming in with 17 assists, four kills and five digs.  Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) had eight digs.

The Royals hit the road on Tuesday for a return trip to Marymount.  Note the earlier start time in Arlington, Va., at 6:00pm.  EMU needs to win the match to keep their hopes of making the CVC Tournament alive.

Senior Recognition
Before the Rust match, the Royals honored their three seniors: Garrett Delph, Marc Lovell and Kyle Storc.  Delph has been a quick-learning middle in his three years since coming over from the men's basketball team, although he has only played in three matches this year because of injury.  Marc has been a three-year starter as a versatile right side hitter.  And Storc will leave as one of the best blockers in program history.  He finished fourth in the nation with 1.16 blocks per set as a junior, and currently has 292 career blocks, good for No. 4 in EMU history.

Coach Porter talks about the up-and-down day in Yoder Arena: