EMU's offense was in high gear Friday night, hitting .446 as a team in a 3-0 romp over CVC opponent Thiel College.

The No. 9 Royals are now 6-1 in conference play, preparing for tomorrow's big match against third-place Juniata. The Eagles, ranked No. 15 in this week's AVCA poll, lost 3-0 at No. 11 Marymount Friday. The three ranked teams had entered the weekend tied atop the CVC standings, each with only one loss.

Eastern Mennonite, 16-6 overall, hosts Marymount next week Wednesday.

Against Thiel, the Royals fell behind 4-1 early before taking over with a late 6-0 run. They won the opener 25-21.

The momentum carried through the rest of the night. The men started the second set on a 6-1 tear, and never slowed down to grab wins of 25-13 and 25-14.

EMU made just eight attack errors all night, their second-lowest mark of the season. William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) and Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) each landed 13 kills, while Josh Elmore (Chester, Va./Matoaca) added eight with no errors on 14 swings. Setter Christian Taylor (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) racked up 37 assists.

Middle Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had a hand in five of his team's seven blocks. Ragland and Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) each had seven digs.

Mitchell Patterson led the Tomcats with nine kills.

EMU's 16 wins is the most since going 16-13 in 2008, and tied for the fourth-highest total in program history.

The Royals will celebrate their Senior Recognition before Saturday's match against Juniata, which starts at 12:00pm. Scott Brigham is the lone senior on the team.