The Royals opened a promising CVC season on the right foot, hitting past Thiel in a 3-0 sweep Friday in Greenville, Pa.

Now 5-2 on the season, the volleyball men stay in Pennsylvania to take on Juniata College Saturday afternoon at 4:00pm. The Eagles beat EMU in a five-setter in the CVC Championship match last spring and are ranked No. 9 in this week's AVCA National Poll.

Eastern Mennonite's offense was in high gear against Thiel, making just three attack errors in the first two sets combined. The men rolled to a 9-3 start in the opener and never let the lead below four points in a 25-13 win. They scored the first two points in the second set and never trailed in a 25-18 score.

The Tomcats played better in the third, but could not make up for EMU's quick start. The Royals rattled off a 7-1 run to inflate a 10-3 cushion, and the margin never got closer than four points. Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle Antrim) slammed home a quick set to end the day, 25-19.

EMU made just eight attack errors all contest and hit a season best .318 for their second straight sweep.

William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) led a balanced attack with eight kills and seven digs. Tim Callahan (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) landed seven kills with no errors. Lutz and R.J. Ocampo (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) each hit .500 out of the middle, with Lutz having the bigger attack at six kills. Ocampo was bigger defensively with four blocks.

Christian Taylor (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) put up 23 assists.

Colton Frey (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) stepped up as EMU's libero, picking up six digs.

Mitchell Patterson led Thiel with nine kills, but the Royals' defense also pestered him into 10 errors.