This past weekend of January 26-27, Eastern Mennonite University Mens’ Volleyball team traveled to Virginia Beach to compete in Virginia Wesleyan’s VWU invitational tournament. It was a weekend of ups and downs, as the Royals went 2-2 overall with a win and a loss each day.
The Royals lost their first match of the tournament to University of Mount. Olive then won their second match versus St. Andrews. The game against University of Mount. Olive started off relatively even, tying off 6-6 initially before a three point run due to kills by junior Ben Childers, senior Walter Spurlock, and fifth year Nate McGee. However, the Trojans continued to get a 3-0 run of their own to tie with the Royals. This set continued to be very point for point until Mt. Olive took the lead at 21-17 and finished the set cleanly. The second set was also initially very point for point—similar to the first—but at 13-13, the Trojans took the lead once again with a seven point run, and finished the second set in the lead once again. EMU fought back in the third set, managing to win due to kills from Andre Mills, Ben Childers, and David Ward, alongside some service aces from Nate McGee and Rey De La Cruz. Unfortunately, despite the Royals fighting for the fourth set, the Trojans remained in the lead for the entire set due to a 9-3 run in the beginning. Although this set was also point for point, the Royals struggled to recover from the beginning of the set and couldn’t pull ahead of the Trojans.
Luckily, the second game of the day looked up for the Royals. This was an incredibly competitive game, and the St. Andrews Knights stuck with the Royals all the way up to 27-27 in the first set. EMU managed to win the first set with a kill from right side hitter David Ward. Set two was similar, with the Royals and Knights going head to head up to 24-24. However, this set also ended similarly, with a kill from middle blocker AJ Bagby handing the set to the Royals. The third set caught up to the Knights, allowing both teams to maintain longer point runs throughout the set. St. Andrews started off strong 5-2, but the Royals turned the tables again with a run leading them to be two points ahead of the Knights. EMU continued to gain more over the Knights throughout the set, and won the game 25-19. This was a very close game statistically; the Knights scored more offensive kills than the Royals, but they also had more offensive errors. Statistically, St. Andrews had 20 more errors throughout this game than the Royals. Additionally, this was a strong blocking game for the Royals: EMU had 15.5 blocks, whereas the Knights had 2 in total.
The Royals won their first match of the second day against Virginia Wesleyan, then lost their final match to Barton College. The first game versus Virginia Wesleyan was a clean three set win, with set one ending 25-18, the second set 25-16, and set three 25-19. The Royals made less than half the amount of errors compared to Virginia Wesleyan’s error count. The pin hitters were also more involved on defense, with ten digs from Walter Spurlock. Additionally, senior setter Tyler Oaks led the offense with 35 assists overall. All in all, this was a consistent match for the Royals.
Lastly, the Royals faced Barton College as their final match before heading home. This game started off stronger for EMU, with a four point lead over the Bulldogs due to two kills and a double block by the Royals. However, the game went downhill for the Royals from there as the Bulldogs gained a 14-3 run towards the middle of the set, then won the first set 25-14. The second set went similarly to the first set, with the Bulldogs maintaining the lead the entire set. The Royals managed to pick up a few points here and there, with a few kills from David Ward and occasional errors on Barton’s part. The second set ended in Barton’s favor at 25-13. However, EMU stepped up their game in the third set; despite the Bulldogs having a 16-7 run in the beginning, the Royals responded with kills from setter Tyler Oaks, David Ward, Walter Spurlock, and Nate McGee, alongside a service ace, which pushed the Royals to a 13-6 tilt making the score 22-20 overall. Despite the close score and fight from the Royals, the game ended in three sets as the Bulldogs finished off the match 25-22.
The Royals play their next match February 2 at Mount Saint Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio. However, the next day, they’ll travel to Springfield, Ohio to play Wittenberg University and Penn State Behrend.
