Volleyball Falls in NECVA Tournament Quarterfinals

The men's volleyball team split the first two games but then dropped two straight for a 3-1 loss to #6 Rivier College in the quarterfinal round of the North East Collegiate Volley-ball Association conference tournament hosted by Ramapo College.

EMU, seeded tenth in the tournament, lost by game scores of 30-27, 28-30, 30-21, and 30-25 to second-seeded Rivier. At the time, the Raiders were ranked sixth in the nation in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III poll.

Sophomore middle blocker Dominick Porter had 16 kills to lead the EMU attack. Junior hitter Nate Artz added nine kills. First-year setter Ben Yoder had 37 assists while sophomore libero Ryan Detweiler and sophomore hitter Andrew Moore contributed 19 and 12 digs respectively.

The Royals upset nationally ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3-0 in the first round of the tournament on Friday evening to get to the quarterfinal round. EMU won by game scores of 30-28, 31-29, and 33-31. MIT (23-7) entered the single-elimination event as the seventh seed and ranked #12 in the country. Against MIT, junior Josh Kerr had 13 kills while sophomore Andrew Moore had a double-double with 12 kills and 17 digs. Freshman setter Ben Yoder had 38 assists. Sophomore libero Ryan Detweiler collected 24 digs.

EMU ended its season at 13-8 overall in coach Fred Miller's first year at the helm. Rivier advanced to the semifinal round where it suffered a 3-1 loss to third-seeded Medaille. Top-seeded Stevens Tech won the NECVA tournament title with 3-0 win over Medaille on Sunday.