The Eastern Mennonite University volleyball men suffered a CVC loss at preseason favorite Southern Virginia Friday night.

The decision drops the Royals to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Continental Volleyball Conference. The men step out of conference play next weekend, heading to Reading, Pa., on Saturday for a tri-match against Alvernia and Lehman.

EMU struggled early against Southern Virginia (5-3/2-0 CVC), dropping the first sets by scores of 25-10 and 25-11.

The third set featured big back-and-forth momentum swings. The Royals worked to an early lead before SVU surged ahead with an 8-2 run. The men responded with the next four points to slice the margin to one, before rattling off six unanswered to take a 21-17 edge. EMU was still holding a 23-21 advantage until the Knights plunked down the next four points to steal the set, 25-23.

The Royals struggled in serve receive, giving up 16 aces to Southern Virginia. In turn, the offense only got in gear for 12 kills against 11 attack errors.

Martin Pou (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) had four kills, while Drew Bennett (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks) and Josh White (Chesapeake, Va./Bishop Sullivan) each landed three. White also led all players with three blocks. Wyatt Bollinger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) had 10 set assists and EMU's lone service ace.

Jeremy Brown and Curtis Stone co-led SVU's balanced attack with six kills each.