EMU's volleyball men put up a solid fight against No. 11 Southern Virginia Tuesday night in Harrisonburg. The visiting Knights had too much firepower, however, taking home a 3-0 sweep.

The Royals fall to 1-9 overall with six of those losses coming to teams ranked in the top 15 of the AVCA National Poll. At 1-2 in the Continental Volleyball Conference, Eastern Mennonite looks to add to the win column on a road swing to Pennsylvania this weekend, playing at Elizabethtown on Friday and No. 14 Juniata on Saturday. Game times both nights are at 7:00pm.

The men fell in a quick hole in the first set against Southern Virginia (7-1/3-0 CVC) and never recovered in a 25-17 opener.

The second set was different. A kill from Hunter Taylor (Ashland, Va./Patrick Henry) gave EMU an early 4-3 lead, and then with Taylor at the service line, the Royals rattled off five unanswered points to go ahead 10-7. The score stayed tight until a quick 4-0 jab from SVU gave the visitors a 20-15 edge. Another 4-0 punch finished off the set, 25-17.

The Knights led by as many as six early in the third, but EMU wasn't ready to quit. A big block from R.J. Ocampo (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) and Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) nudged the Royals within two at 19-17. Kills from Abele kept the deficit at two at 20-18 and 21-19, but that was as close as they would come as SVU hit their way to a 25-21 final.

Abele led the attack with eight kills followed by five from Sean Wright (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run). Setter Wyatt Bollinger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) had 20 assists.

Defensively, Bollinger and Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) teamed up for three blocks. Drew Bennett (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks) played his first match as libero and led the team with six digs.

Mark Stapley and Nahuel Recabarren each had nine kills to pace SVU's attack.