Despite winning the first set, EMU's volleyball men suffered a disappointing 3-1 CVC loss at Rutgers-Newark on Saturday. The No. 11 Royals settle at 20-9 overall and 9-4 in the conference.

Now in third place the Continental Volleyball Conference, the men put a lot of focus on next Saturday's CVC finale at Stevenson (17-10/8-4 CVC). A win would propel EMU into the No. 2/No. 3 semifinal of the CVC Tournament, likely to play Juniata College. A loss to Stevenson would likely drop the men behind the Mustangs into the No. 4 seed, with a semifinal matchup against top-seeded tourney host, Marymount.

Eastern Mennonite also plays a non-conference match against Penn State-Altoona next Saturday in Owings Mills, Md.

The Royals started well at Rutgers-Newark (12-15/6-6 CVC), hitting .310 in the first set and closing on an 11-1 run to win 25-17.

The Scarlet Raiders settled down in the second and did not allow any more big EMU runs. Rutgers-Newark broke off a 17-17 tie with a 3-0 spurt and kept the men at arm's length in a 25-22 decision.

The home team jumped to a 16-9 lead in the third, and then held off a late EMU charge to squeak out a 25-23 final.

Eastern Mennonite held a small cushion much of the fourth, but coughed up the edge after leading 23-20. After brushing aside one match point, the men got back-to-back kills to go ahead 25-24, but Rutgers-Newark answered with three in a row to close out the upset, 27-25.

The Royals were simply out-hit, .248 to .219. Both teams had 11 blocks.

Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) landed a team high 18 kills along with 11 digs. Josh Elmore (Chester, Va./Matoaca) had a solid effort with 15 kills, 11 digs and four blocks. William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) added 10 kills. Christian Taylor (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) had 53 assists.

Middles Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) and R.J. Ocampo (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) each had five blocks. Libero Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) led all players with 15 digs.

Rutgers-Newark was led by 20 kills and four blocks from Ricky Crumlish. Jalen Sorrell had eight blocks.