EMU's young men's volleyball team showed their growth in Saturday's CVC doubleheader against Randolph-Macon. The Royals did a number of nice things, including some of their best defensive efforts of the year, but couldn't translate that into a check mark in the win column.

The men wrap up the abbreviated 2021 season on Tuesday, playing a final CVC contest at nationally ranked Southern Virginia at 4:00pm.

The first match against the Yellow Jackets was full of wild swings. EMU landed only six kills against six attack errors in the opening set, and quickly dropped a 25-13 score.

R-MC built a quick 7-1 lead in the second before the Royals got their attack in gear. The men used three short spurts to turn a 15-10 deficit into a 21-18 lead. EMU kept that edge until Ben Childers (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) landed a kill to finish off a 25-21 win. Eastern Mennonite scored the first two points of the third set and never trailed. They led by as many as 10 en route to a 25-16 finish.

But after hitting .333 with just four errors combined over the two sets they won, the Royals faltered in the fourth. Randolph-Macon surged to an early 7-3 lead and steamrolled to a 25-12 finish. EMU scored first in the final set on a service ace, but then gave up a 4-0 streak to fall in a hole. They were twice within a single point before the Yellow Jackets landed another 4-0 run to grab control and win, 15-8.

Neither team hit very well, but the Royals hurt themselves at the service line where they had five more service errors and five less aces.

Childers had a team high six kills, followed by five from Josh White (Chesapeake, Va./Bishop Sullivan). Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) had four kills without an error.

The men easily had their best defensive effort at the net, racking up 17 blocks as a team. Their previous high this year had been four blocks in a match. Durren singlehandedly broke the previous team high, making two solo stuffs and six assists. The total of eight was one short of his career best. White tied his career high with six blocks while Childers broke his with five.

After a 45-minute break, however, the Royals lost their steam. They still couldn't solve R-MC's defense, hitting negative for the match, and again were out-served.

The Yellow Jackets won the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-16. EMU recovered from an early 10-4 deficit in the third to get back within 17-16. They eventually snuck in front at 22-21, but errors hurt them in the final points of a 25-23 loss.

White had six kills to lead the offense. Durren put down four blocks while Childers helped on three and added nine digs. Drew Bennett (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks) had 22 set assists and three aces.