The volleyball women were snake-bitten by mistakes Tuesday night, losing 3-0 on the road in a non-conference match at Southern Virginia. Eastern Mennonite hit just .012 as team in falling to 8-8 on the season.

The Royals host Guilford and St. Mary's (Md.) in an important tri-match on Saturday. The surprising Quakers were picked No. 11 in the ODAC Preseason Poll, one spot behind EMU, but are 3-1 so far in league play. The women are 1-3. Start time against Guilford will be at noon, while Senior Recognition will precede the 4:00pm non-conference match against St. Mary's (Md.).

Eastern Mennonite started on the right foot against Southern Virginia, scoring the first five points. Janna Williams (Kenbridge, Va./Kenston Forest) dropped in her third kill to make it an 8-2 lead.

But that's when the Knights charged. A number of errors allowed SVU to rattle off eight straight points to jump in the lead. The Royals got within 11-10, but couldn't get control back in a 25-17 opener.

Set two was tied early before Southern Virginia opened up a 24-14 margin. The Royals unleashed a 7-0 spurt, cutting the score to 24-21 and forcing an SVU timeout. The break worked, as EMU responded with a service error to end a 25-21 score.

The Royals used some good blocking to work open a slight lead early in the third, but a 7-2 run put the home team back in front at 10-7. Eastern Mennonite fought back to ties at 11-11 and 12-12, but a quick 3-0 spurt gave SVU the breathing they needed to push out to a 25-20 clincher.

Despite the Knights only having four blocks on the night, the women made 20 attack errors against 21 kills. Becca Hardy (Port Republic, Va./Eastern Mennonite) had six kills while Williams and Maria Yoder (Manheim, Pa./Hempfield) each added five. Setter Jasmine Johnson (Staunton, Va./Robert E. Lee) had 18 assists.

Skyler Johnson (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) led the defensive effort with eight digs. Hardy and Yoder each had three blocks. Ginny Sorrell (Spotsylvania, Va./Spotsylvania) had a pair of aces.

Southern Virginia hit .172 as a team, led by 11 kills from Hannah Allred.