Coming off Wednesday's gutsy win at No. 8 Southern Virginia, the No. 14 Eastern Mennonite volleyball men had a rare letdown Friday night, dropping a 3-1 decision at Lancaster Bible College.

Now 15-6 overall, this is the Royals' first loss to a team not ranked or receiving votes in the national poll.

Eastern Mennonite ventures into cold and snowy territory on Saturday for a tri-match at Lasell College in Newton, Mass. The Royals get talented MIT at 2:00pm, followed by the host Lasers at 4:00pm.

While the men had their attack going in solid order against Lancaster Bible (10-3), they never hit their stride from the service line, allowing the Chargers to get into an offensive flow. EMU hit .375 in the first set, where they held on for a 26-24 win. They made just one attack error and hit .632 in the second, but Lancaster Bible was even better, as the Chargers evened the score with a 25-21 final.

The momentum carried into the third. The Royals landed just two more kills than attack errors, leaving LBC to a 25-19 final. EMU came back around in the fourth, but the Chargers still had the juice to a squeak out a 27-25 final for the decision.

Eastern Mennonite connected on just two aces in the four-setter, while their nine reception errors made a huge difference.

Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had 12 kills with no errors on 17 swings. William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) had a double double with 12 kills and 10 digs. Christian Taylor (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) racked up 48 set assists.

Defensively, Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) had four blocks, including one solo stuff. Micah Buller (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) had 19 digs.