The Royals got 11 kills from Hunter Taylor (Ashland, Va./Patrick Henry) and nine more from Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) as they rolled over Cairn for a 3-0 CVC win Friday night in Harrisonburg.

After a quick turnaround, EMU (2-14/2-5 CVC) returns to the court Saturday morning at 11:00am, hosting Neumann University (2-9/0-6 CVC).

Eastern Mennonite broke open a close first set with an 8-0 streak, taking a 16-7 cushion. Another 5-0 run nearly ended it as EMU coasted to a 25-16 finish.

The Highlanders earned their first lead by scoring the first four points of the second, but EMU scored the next five to take over. A run of six straight capped a 13-2 tear, pushing the Royals ahead 13-6. CU never got closer than four points from there in a 25-19 score.

After landing 23 kills against just eight errors over the first two sets combined, EMU's attack faltered in the third. They worked to a 14-10 lead, only to have mistakes let the Highlanders tie it up at 14-14. After 4-0 streak for the Royals got them back in front, the visitors fought back within one point four different times. Clinging to a 24-23 lead, the men snuck in one final point to close the night, 25-23.

Taylor got his 11 kills with a .333 kill percentage. Abele added nine kills, seven assists and a pair of blocks. Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) had six kills while R.J. Ocampo (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) added four on just six swings. Each of them made two blocks.

Setter Wyatt Bollinger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) topped all players with 23 assists. Sean Wright (Glen Allen, Va./Deep Run) led the back row with seven digs while Austin Tomlin (Greenville, Va./Riverheads) had six. Ocampo tied his career high with five digs.

Ryan Ludvik was Cairn's main force with 12 kills and 12 digs.