Drew Bennett (center) and Josh White (right) connected for three kills. (photo by Scott Eyre)
The Royals played very well against visiting Marymount on Wednesday night, but couldn’t get over the hump in a tight 3-0 loss.
After the lone non-conference match on their schedule, Eastern Mennonite (0-6) returns to CVC pod play this Saturday, hosting Randolph-Macon in a doubleheader. The home finale starts at 2:00pm.
Despite struggling to get in an offensive groove in the opening set, the men stayed close until Marymount (4-4) broke out with an 11-3 run to close the set for a 25-17 win.
The Royals hit much better in the second set, but MU still made a small cushion with a 4-0 run. Eastern Mennonite responded quickly with a 5-0 streak, taking an 18-17 lead on a service ace from Drew Bennett (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks). The Saints again were ready with a strong finish, however, closing on a 6-1 run for a 25-21 decision.
In the third the teams traded small runs early on before locking up at 18-18. The Royals forced ties at 19-19 and 22-22 but a pair of service errors hamstrung the men, giving Marymount a 25-23 clincher.
EMU hit .360 in the second set and .208 in the third, settling at .217 for the match. But the Saints simply out-hit their hosts with a .355 kill percentage. The Royals landed a season high seven aces, but also had a high with 20 service errors. Ben Childers (Chesterfield, Va./Matoaca) had three of the aces.
Nate McGhee (Newport News, Va./Heritage) was unstoppable at the net. He didn’t make an attack error through the first two sets and finished with a career high 16 kills and a .464 kill percentage. McGhee also co-led the team with five digs.
Bennett was good for 23 assists, five digs and two aces. Josh White (Chesapeake, Va./Bishop Sullivan) and Jacob Durren (Gloucester, Va./Gloucester) each had a hand in two blocks.
Luke Morris led an incredibly balanced attack for Marymount with six kills.
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