The men will wrap up their regular season at league-leading Stevenson on March 30. The Royals will also be watching how Juniata finishes the year, as the Eagles and EMU are battling for the final tourney berth.

If seeding holds out over the remaining matches, EMU and Juniata would finish the season tied, meaning their fight for the final CVC Tournament bid would come down to tie-breakers.

EMU’s men are searching for their first-ever tourney berth in the four years of the CVC’s existence. The four-team CVC Tournament is April 8 and 9, hosted by the top seed.

EMU 3, Thiel 0

The Royals were in firm control in the conference contest to start the day, only allowing Thiel a pair of 3-0 runs the entire match. The Tomcats lone leads were at 2-1 in the first set and 1-0 in the third. EMU had double digit leads in each set, rolling to wins of 25-12, 25-9 and 25-18.

Eastern Mennonite hit a season-high .406 as a team, making only eight errors on 64 attempts. Setter (Richmond, Va./Deep Run) spread the ball around and made 25 assists.

(Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) landed eight kills with no errors on 11 swings. (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) had six kills while (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale) and (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) each had five.

The men had eight blocks, including five from (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim). Taylor and Abele each had a hand in three.

EMU 3, John Jay 0

After Thiel pulled past John Jay in three, the Royals did the same to the Bloodhounds. A handful of regulars got the match off, but it hardly mattered as the men kept rolling to 25-9, 25-10 and 25-14 wins.

The net defenders picked up 11 blocks, marking just the second time this season they hit double figures in a three-setter. Spriggs, who was honored between sets two and three on Senior Recognition Day, led the charge and tied his career high with eight stuffs. The middle also tied his career high with nine kills.

(Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) dropped in nine kills while (Temple Terrace, Fla./C. Leon King) added eight. Both freshmen set their career high. Abele added four blocks, while Taylor put up 25 assists.

“We finally have what we need to get there,” Porter explained, “a setter and pin hitters that can effectively put away in the clutch.”

The men finished 14-10 overall in 2015, but 3-9 in the CVC to just miss the tournament.

Having seven returners, including five who saw consistent playing time, means Porter has a strong base of players back.

“It means we have guys that want it more than ever,” Porter added.Ìý “After not making the tournament, they know what it feels like to watch it all come down to who beats who during the season, rather than simply focusing on making the tournament field.”

The CVC slate of matches starts with road dates at Juniata and Thiel on Feb. 5 and 6, respectively.Ìý But preparations began with a tri-match over Jan. 15-16, in which the team was 1-2,Ìý winning against NAIA Bluefield and posting losses to D-II Alderson Broaddus andÌý D-II Coker.

Junior outside hitter (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) was the team’s leading hitter last year with 221 kills, despite missing eight matches.Ìý His lofty average of 3.81 kills per set was even higher until he filled in as the setter for three matches.

Porter said that Brigham, one of the Royals’ three captains, is stronger this season after spending time in the gym.Ìý But his leadership will be just as important as his play.

“Being one of only two upperclassmen, Scott has and will be our on-the-court leader,” Porter said.Ìý “And we need him to be that to reach our goals this year.Ìý He has done a great job of communicating on-court responsibilities during a match and leads the unit on the court.”

The Royals return a large defensive presence, both in the back row and at the net.Ìý Libero (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) (2.41 digs per set) and Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) (1.44 digs per set) bring a load of poise to the back row, while middle (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) (67 blocks, .356 attack percentage) quickly blossomed in his first season of organized volleyball.

“Micah and Colton will be very important for us this year,” explained Porter.Ìý “They have both showed an aggressive nature on the court, scrapping and getting to every ball.Ìý They will be our biggest asset on defense we look for them to take over on the court.Ìý Dan, with a year under his belt, will be our biggest threat at the net as he is truly developing into a blocking powerhouse.”

Buller and Lutz are also team captains.Ìý All three are from last year’s talented freshmen class, as is outside hitter (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), who was second on the team with 191 kills (2.48 per set).

“Tim spent the summer getting into shape and it shows when he attacks the ball,” Porter noted.Ìý “As a result, there is a level of aggression when going after a set.”

Senior (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale) and sophomore (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) each played in at least 10 matches as middles in 2015 and will look to expand their roles this year.

Freshman setter (Henrico, Va./Deep Run) headlines the new freshmen class, with (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) and (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) leading the charge for court time as transfers.Ìý (Richmond, Va./Patrick Henry) (1.08 kills and 0.58 blocks per set in 2014) returns after a year away from EMU.

“William previously played for national power Carthage,” Porter said, “and we look to use him in multiple roles to reach our goals this year, as well as utilizing his leadership on the court.”

Freshmen (Temple Terrace, Fla./C. Leon King), (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) and (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) will also be pushing for playing time.

Porter said that while he has more offensive weapons this season, the key will still be ball control.

“I need our liberos and setter to have a big statistical year.Ìý Everything else will molded around their output and success.”

As noted by the two D-II opponents over opening weekend, the Royals have beefed up their non-divisional matches, which have been mostly absent since the NCAA began sponsoring a D-III national tournament in 2012.Ìý Men’s volleyball is unique in comparison to most other collegiate sports, as the voters in the national poll actually do take into account how teams do outside of their divisional contests.

Along with Coker and Alderson Broaddus, Porter added matches against D-II teams King, Lees-McRae and Limestone.Ìý All three play in the Conference Carolinas, whose teams were common opponents for Eastern Mennonite half a decade ago.

Porter said those additions were intentional to increase the level of play of the men’s opponents.

“The guys are excited to play tougher competition,” he said, indicating that change would help the team accomplish their goals for the season.Ìý “Our immediate goal is to make our conference tournament.Ìý Secondary is to come into the conference tournament higher than the fourth seed.”

EMU’s coach said that with the increased offensive options and overall knowledge of his players, the Royals are ready to take that next step in 2016.

“One of our main strengths will be the number of players on our roster that have a high level of volleyball IQ,” explained Porter. Ìý“With our transfers and current balance, I think this year we will show we are a new team.”

Eastern Mennonite’s talented lower classes were well-represented, compiling six of the seven honorees.Ìý Five freshmen were on the team: (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman), (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin), (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield), (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and Ìý(Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim).Ìý Sophomore (Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) was named for the second straight time while junior (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) made his third consecutive appearance on the team.

With just five upper classmen on the 15-man roster, the Royals finished 14-10 this year, including 3-9 in the conference.Ìý They missed making the four-team CVC Tournament by just one win.

A total of 39 student-athletes were recognized as members of the Continental Volleyball Conference All-Academic Team for the 2015 season. ÌýIn order for a player to earn All-Academic Team honors he must carry at least a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average.

All seven CVC school members were represented on the 2015 list with Juniata College leading the way with eight All-Academic members. Ìý²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø had second most with seven players, while Stevenson University was third with six players.

The Royals coughed up the first three points in the opener and never recovered, 25-17. They used a big 6-0 run midway in the second set to gain momentum to even things up, 25-16.

Neither team led by more than two in the critical set three. PSB led 20-18 but the Royals scored three straight to go ahead 21-20. The Lions scored once to tie it at 21-21, but the men kept rolling, asÌýÌý(Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle Antrim) capped a key 3-0 spurt with a service ace to make it 24-21. The home team scored twice before an EMU kill closed the door on a 25-23 win.

Eastern Mennonite scored first in the fourth, but the Lions used an 8-0 run to take charge and cruise to a 25-16 win.

The teams traded points early in the deciding set five before the Royals scored four in a row to build a 7-2 cushion. The men kept the lead at four or five points until match point at 14-9. Penn State-Behrend scored three times before a block fromÌýÌý(Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) andÌýÌý(Newport News, Va./Menchville) ended the day, 15-12.

The Royals hit .201 with 11 blocks, their second-highest total of the season.

Ìý(Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) turned a match high 68 swings into 27 kills. He added 12 digs.ÌýÌý(Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) was good for 11 kills and 11 digs.ÌýÌý(Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) lofted 51 set assists andÌýÌý(Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) picked up 13 digs.

Lutz knocked down seven blocks, including two solo. Lovell finished with six blocks to go with his nine kills.

Eric Theiss led PSB with 12 kills, while Ty Sheehan and Trenton Munk each had 11.

The Royals have another non-conference road game next Tuesday, playing at Bluefield College at 6:30 p.m.

The teams went back and forth this time around, trading sets. Eastern Mennonite fell behind in the first set, but took over the lead late and then scored the final three to win, 25-21. Cairn built up a big lead in the second set and made it stick in a 26-24 squeaker.

Set three was a different story, as the Royals quickly built up an 11-6 lead. The Highlanders made a few runs before the men closed the door, 25-18.Ìý Cairn forced the fifth set by making a small lead stick in the fourth, 25-22.

EMU fell behind early in the deciding set but then used a couple of short runs to get in front. A kill fromÌýÌý(Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) closed the day, winning 15-11.

Brigham led all players with 24 kills.ÌýÌý(Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) added 18 kills with a solid .263 attack percentage, and was second on the team with 15 digs.ÌýÌý(Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) had 11 kills.ÌýÌý(Hampton, Va./Bethel) put up a hefty 55 set assists.

Defensively, liberoÌýÌý(Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) led all players with 16 digs.Ìý(Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) got his hands on seven blocks, andÌýÌý(Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had six, including two solos.Ìý Long helped out on five blocks.

Randall Colson led Cairn with 16 kills and six blocks.

The Royals, 5-3 overall, are at home again on Tuesday, hosting Bluefield College at 6:30pm.

Eastern Mennonite’s volleyball men officially open their new season on Tuesday, hosting Lancaster Bible College at 7 p.m. in Yoder Arena.Ìý The Royals finished 2014 at 12-14, but tied for the longest winning streak in program history at six matches in a row.

Porter said his team did well with the hand they were dealt.

“I felt the year went as well as we could make it go given the roster size and injuries,” explained Porter.Ìý “The team worked hard and prepared for the long season last year knowing we did not have numbers to successfully scrimmage in practice.”

The men returned seven of their ten players, a nice core despite the fact that they lost their top hitter and setter.

“It means a lot to have those returners because they know what playing in college looks like and they are the ones pushing everyone else to get better and do better,” Porter commented.Ìý “We are in a good place right now.”

Back are outsidesÌýÌý(Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) (3.29 kills/game and 1.84 digs/game) andÌýÌý(Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) (2.49 kills/game and 1.61 digs/game), along with rightside hitterÌýÌý(Newport News, Va./Menchville) (0.98 kills/game and 1.54 digs/game).ÌýÌýÌý(Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) was one of the top blockers in the nation last year at middle averaging 1.16 stuffs per game along with 0.98 kills.Ìý Fellow middleÌýÌý(Berryville, Va./Leesburg Christian) brings back 1.03 kills and 0.85 blocks andÌýÌý(Chester, Va./Thomas Dale) added 0.66 blocks off the bench.

Ìý(Creighton, Pa./Deer Lakes) spent much of last season as the team’s libero, but becomes more of a general this year.

“Zach will be stepping into the setter position and I am very pleased about his versatile role on the team,” said Porter.

EMU’s coach also explained that he is expecting a lot of leadership out of his upperclassmen.

“Jesse, Kyle and Marc will lead the team as returners and two of them are seniors,” he said.Ìý “Their roles will have to be fulfilled this year in full as we have a young team.”

Porter also expects a lot of out his eight freshmen, both in contributions this year and during their four seasons as a whole.

“We have three liberos inÌýÌý(Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman),ÌýÌý(Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) andÌýÌý(Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and we could not be in a more stable place with the liberos we have,” he explained.Ìý “OutsideÌýÌý(Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) will be producing a large amount of our offense this year as well as middle/rightsideÌýÌý(Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim).ÌýÌýÌý(Virginia Beach, Va./Salem) is one of the most athletic rightsides to play at EMU, and setterÌýÌý(Hampton, Va./Bethel) and his club teammate middle blockerÌýÌý(Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) who will also be seeing time this year as freshmen.”

Besides the influx of versatile talent, Porter is excited to simply have more than the needed 12 players to complete a six-on-six scrimmage during practices.Ìý The Royals only had 10 men on the roster last spring.

He also sees this group of athletes functioning well as a team.

“Our biggest goal is for this group of guys to work well together,” he said, “and to do the right, simple things all the time.Ìý They are coming along well. ÌýOur short term goal is to progress day to day through practice and then game experience.Ìý Our long term goal is to make the CVC Tournament.”

EMU finished 2-8 in the Continental Volleyball Conference in 2014 and are still looking for their first postseason appearance as the league enters its fourth year of existence.

There is a major change in the structure of the CVC this year, however, as the Western Division of the league (made up of teams from Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio) amicably left during the offseason to form their own more geographically-concise conference, the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League. ÌýThe Eastern teams of EMU, Marymount, Stevenson, Juniata, Thiel and Cairn maintained the rights to the CVC name as well as automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and added a seventh team in Rutgers-Newark.

While the league was originally started to provide an automatic bid when the NCAA added a sponsored national championship for 2012, the continued growth of the sport allowed the expansive conference to add more teams and now cut down on travel expenses.

Porter agrees that the split was for the better.

“It just makes our conference even tougher with a greater focus on the seven teams here in the east,” he explained.Ìý “Having a Western Division was okay but to really just pay attention to what we have in our region is better for the program and the conference.”

The top four teams in the final standings will advance to the postseason CVC Tournament, which is hosted by Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., on April 10-11.

With the volleyball men sporting their largest roster size since also having 15 on the team six years ago in 2009, Porter is glad to have three assistant coaches this year, giving him extra eyes and feedback.

While Porter knows this season will see a lot of learning curves with more than half of the roster being freshmen, the Royals are excited.

“Practice is more competitive and we look more like a team,” he said.Ìý “Our most noticeable strength is being able to play multiple people during matches.Ìý We have guys that can play more than one position and that’s a good position to be in.”

After the season-opener tomorrow night in Yoder Arena, the Royals will have to forge their identity on the road, playing six straight away from home.