The EMU Men’s Volleyball team arrived home this week from a weekend trip to Springfield, OH. The Royals participated in the Jim Coleman Memorial Invitational, going 1-3 in the invitational. The Royals first played the home team, Wittenberg University. EMU went into the matchup with a record of 0-4 against Wittenberg all-time and was hoping to change their winless record versus the Lutheran school from Ohio. The Royals got off to a good start with a 25-22 win in the first set before dropping their last three, losing 3-1. The Wittenberg Tigers, who compete in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), finished their weekend 3-1 with a loss to Westminster College (MO).
The second matchup on Friday evening was against Thiel College from Greenville, PA. Again, the Royals took the first set 26-24, followed by dropping the second set 25-20. EMU got the third set 27-25 before losing the last two. The Thiel College Tomcats of the America Presidents’ Athletic Conference went 22-7 last season with a conference championship, but did lose to both Westminster and Wittenberg. Derek Diaz of EMU had five kills in the first game and 12 against the Tomcats, leading the team in kills for the first two games. Diaz is a junior from Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, who has 3.24 kills per set after the first four games of the season.
The Royals next played on Saturday, where they faced Westminster College of Fulton, MO. The private college, which plays in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference only, went 18-13 last season, but has already gone 6-1 thus far into this season. The Royals yet again got the first set before dropping the second, won the third, then carried on to lose the last two down the stretch. Again, Derek Diaz led the Royals in kills with 20 and 22 overall points. Jose Melendez, a junior from San Juan, Puerto Rico, got 10 kills against the Tigers on Friday and 11 against Westminster.
The Royals’ final game of the weekend went far better than the first three, facing off against Marian University of Wisconsin. EMU won the first set 25-20, followed by a 25-16 win in the second set. The next two sets Marian won 25-20 and 25-18, respectively. The final set would decide the game, and the Royals pulled out the win 3-2. Jose Melendez, this time, co-led the team in kills with Derek Diaz, getting 18 each, while Daeman Odom had eight blocks. The Royals returned home with a record of 1-3, and with Derek Diaz, Jose Melendez, and Ezekiel Awkward leading the team in points, the team should be well prepared to go into the season. The next round of games will happen this weekend in Huntingdon, PA, where the team faces Hobart College on Friday night, New Paltz Saturday morning, and Juniata College Saturday afternoon.
