EMU's volleyball men put up a tough fight against Cal Lutheran on Saturday, but dropped a straight sets match to the Kingsmen. The match was played at Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista, Va.

Next up for the Royals is another date with a traveling team, when they host No. 4 Dominican (Ill.) on Wednesday. Match time in Yoder Arena is 7:00pm. Dominican also plays matches at Marymount, SVU and Stevenson during the week.

The men fell in a quick hole against CLU and never recovered in a 25-15 loss. Set two started much differently as Eastern Mennonite scored the first five points, including three straight blocks. But Cal Lutheran slowly took over before exploding for the final nine points in a 25-12 final.

By the third set, the Royals were in high gear, trading leads with the Kingsmen. EMU was up 15-12, only to see Cal Lutheran flip ahead 18-17. But a quick 3-0 run put the Royals back in front. Ben Childers (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) and Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) then had kills during another 3-0 jab that put EMU to set point at 24-21. Cal Lutheran calmly scored three straight to tie the score, however, and fought off two more set points (five total), before a second 3-0 streak made the final swing in a 28-26 clincher.

Josh White (Chesapeake, Va./Bishop Sullivan) had a big match out of the middle for EMU, landing five kills and six blocks. All six of his stuffs were assists, the highest total of his career. Childers and Durren each landed five kills as well, with Childers adding three blocks.

Drew Bennett (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks) had 17 set assists and four digs, while Wyatt Bollinger (Harrisonburg, Va./Eastern Mennonite) added five digs.

Andrew McFarlane had seven kills to lead a balanced attack for CLU. The Kingsmen earned 18 service aces against just 10 errors.