To say it's been a while is an understatement. A massive one.

EMU's volleyball men beat Juniata College 3-1 Friday night in Harrisonburg, securing the Royals' first win over the national power in 24 years. Eastern Mennonite last beat the Eagles on March 21, 1992, in a 3-0 sweep at home. That was in the second year of program history and before nearly everyone who played in Friday's match was even born.

Not only was the win historic, but it could also prove key in the scope of this season as the Royals search for their first-ever berth in the four-team Continental Volleyball Conference Tournament. EMU and Juniata have now split the season series, and if seeding holds out over the final two weeks, the two teams will finish tied for fourth in the league standings. And as things stand now, the Royals seem to have an edge in the tie-breakers.

The CVC Tournament is April 8 and 9, hosted by the top seed, which his currently Stevenson. This is the fourth year of existence for the CVC.

After falling 3-1 at Juniata on Feb. 5, EMU's men came out determined. Led by tough serving, the Royals took control with a 6-0 run in set one, building an 18-12 edge. Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) finished off a 25-20 decision with a kill.

Four different men had kills during a 7-0 run in the second, blowing open a 14-5 lead.  Back-to-back service aces finished a 3-0 spurt to build the biggest lead of the night at 18-7. Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) had the final kills of the set for a 25-17 decision.

Juniata played their best in the third, working to a 12-8 lead. The Royals fired back with a 7-1 run to get in front 15-13, but the Eagles slowly got the edge back and won, 25-22, to stay alive.

Eastern Mennonite scored the first three in the fourth, but JC used a prolonged 8-3 run to take a 21-18 lead. The Royals answered with four in a row, and the teams traded leads. Juniata served for set point, but a kill from Abele brushed that aside. After each team dropped a point, Abele punched another kill to set up match point at 26-25. The Eagles looked at EMU's block and hit their next ball out of bounds to close out the monumental win at 27-25.

The men out-hit Juniata .241 to .208, but most impressive was the serving, which landed 11 aces and kept JC off balance all night. It was the most aces for the Royals since Jan. 15, the opening day of the season. William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) was tops with four ace serves.

Abele, who was a spry two-year-old when the Royals last beat JC, led the way with 15 kills, three aces and three blocks. Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick henry) had 11 kills and two aces. Callahan finished with nine kills.

Middle Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had seven kills and registered a team best four blocks. RJ Ocampo (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) added three blocks, including a solo stuff.

JC's Quinn Peterson led all players with 16 kills, while Kyle Seeley added nine kills and five blocks.

EMU improves to 10-11 overall and 4-6 in CVC play, while Juniata falls to 7-12 and 3-5. The Royals have their home finale tomorrow afternoon, hosting Thiel and John Jay in a tri-match. The CVC contest against Thiel starts things off at 2:00pm, with Senior Recognition Ceremonies preceding the 6:00pm match against the Bloodhounds.

Coach Dominick Porter said his men played as a team better than they had all year: