In a showdown of the top two teams in the Continental Volleyball Conference, No. 11 Marymount had just enough to squeak past No. 8 EMU, taking a 3-2 decision in Harrisonburg.

The two teams were separated by a combined total of four points in the match, but it was enough for the Saints to take a firm hold on the top spot in the CVC and the race for hosting the four-team CVC Tournament in April.

With just over two weeks left in the regular season, Eastern Mennonite slides to 18-7 overall and 7-2 in the CVC. The Saints are 15-6 and 9-1, and also hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over EMU.

The Royals play one more home match on Friday, hosting Alvernia at 5:00pm. The start time of the home finale was moved up two hours to accommodate Alvernia's travel schedule.

The buildup to the contest with Marymount was intense, and the home fans were treated to a thrilling match, outside of the final outcome. Eastern Mennonite led by as many as four in the first set, but fell off a 22-22 tie with a pair of errors and dropped it, 25-23.

The men broke off a 20-20 tie in the second with two points, and did not give up the edge in a 25-23 win.

EMU had a 6-0 run early in the third, and still led 20-16, before Marymount retaliated with their own 6-0 run to flip in front, 22-20. The Royals had back-to-back-to-back kills to regain the lead, and served for set point at 24-23, but the Saints again had a matching response, scoring three straight to steal a 26-24 decision.

Marymount nearly put the contest away in the fourth, serving for set point at 24-23, but Josh Elmore (Chester, Va./Matoaca) landed a kill and Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) teamed with William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) for a block to get EMU in front. Ragland finally put away a 29-27 win with a kill, earning the fifth set.

The teams then jabbed back-and-forth in the fifth, landing at a 9-9 tie. Marymount came out of a timeout with three straight points to gain control at 12-9, and finally closed the door at 15-11.

Eastern Mennonite out-hit MU as a team, .238 to .199. They also battled even on the blocks, 14 to 13.5. The Royals hamstrung themselves at the service line, however, where they made 23 errors, compared to 14 for the Saints.

Ragland, who a day earlier was named the AVCA National Player of the Week, hit .422 and broke his career highs with 24 kills and 16 digs. Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) added 19 kills and eight digs, while Elmore put down 10 kills. Christian Taylor (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) lofted 55 assists.

Lutz set a new career mark with a match-best 10 blocks.

TJ Wiechecki took 61 of his team's 151 attacks and led Marymount with 31 kills and nine blocks. Tomasz Ksiazkiewicz made seven blocks before leaving with an injury in the third.

Coach Ross Madden said the match was a great head-to-head of two good teams: