HARRISONBURG, VA - The same notion is true for any sport at any level: in the great world of athletics, the only thing that truly matters is getting hot at the right time.

The Crimson Eagles - who finished the regular season by uncharacteristically dropping three of their final four games - made sure to pull together when it mattered this past weekend, seizing control of their own destiny during the always-important NECVA Crossover.

PBU captured their first ever NECVA Western Division Title after triumphing in three straight matches including victories over two nationally ranked teams over the course of Friday night and Saturday morning. The accomplishment helped cap a tremendous regular season that saw the Crimson Eagles embark on the biggest one-year turn around in the history of the NECVA conference, from 21-14 a year ago to 23-5 this year.

The volleyball team's impressive two-day stretch has led to a #2 seeding for the Crimson Eagles in the upcoming NECVA Tournament to begin this weekend. It marks the second consecutive year that the volleyball team has been invited to the tournament and just the third time overall in program history.

In their first contest Friday night, 15th ranked PBU defeated 13th ranked D'Youville College 3-2 in a down-to-the-wire thriller that saw freshman Justin Brubaker post the second highest kill total in all of NCAA III this season after landing 38 kills in the contest. (Only Eric Vance of Cal State Northridge achieved a higher kill total this year when he connected on 40 spikes in a five game match.) PBU won by scores of 20-30, 30-26, 19-30, 30-26, 24-22 while Brubaker also recorded a career high in digs (18) to give the freshman phenom his fourth double-double of the season. Classmate Drew Dillon pumped out 56 assists and sophomore Leandro Dueck contributed 18 digs, 12 kills, three aces, and three block assists.

Saturday morning the Crimson Eagles began play against highly touted and sixth ranked Nazareth College. After sweeping the Golden Flyers in somewhat of a surprise upset back in late February, PBU managed to duplicate their success by handling Nazareth this time around by scores of 30-21, 36-34, 30-24. The win provided the Crimson Eagles their fourth victory over a nationally ranked squad this season, giving the team a .571 winning percentage against top-15 teams. Dillon once again helped pave the way offensively by dishing out 41 assists while Dueck charted a double-double with 14 digs and 13 kills. Brubaker finished with a game high 23 kills to supplement 11 digs.

The volleyball team swept through their third straight contest Saturday afternoon, overwhelming Medaille College by scores of 30-27, 29-31, 30-21, 31-29. The Mavericks got the better end of the Crimson Eagles during their first meeting back in early February, but PBU was able to turn the tide this time around behind Dueck's fourth consecutive double-double. The sophomore captain finished with 22 kills, 13 digs, three aces, and four block assists, while Brubaker charted his third double-double in two days by posting a game high 24 kills to go with 13 digs. Dillon ended with 54 assists - marking the second time in three matches this weekend that the native of Mount Joy, PA topped the 50-plus assist mark.

At the conclusion of Saturday's events it was announced that Brubaker was selected as the Western Division Player-of-the-Year, marking the first time a Crimson Eagle student-athlete has been recognized as Player-of-the-Year. Brubaker concluded the regular season ranked 2nd overall in the NECVA in terms of points/game, 3rd in kills/game, and 14th in hitting percentage. Brubaker topped the 20 kill mark in 13 different matches and finished with six double-doubles on the year.

PBU will begin play in the NECVA Tournament this Friday with a first round matchup against #15 seed Baruch College at Ramapo College (Mahwah, NJ) at 2:00 pm. The winner will move on to the NECVA Quarterfinals held on Saturday morning at 11:00 am to battle the victor of #10 Eastern Mennonite and #7 River College.

The semifinals will be played Saturday night at 4:00 pm with the NECVA Championship game to begin at 1:00 pm on Sunday. The winner of the tournament will receive the league's automatic bid to the Molten Division III Men's Invitational Volleyball Championship held in Springfield, MA on April 11-12.

For a copy of the official tournament bracket, please visit

http://www.necva.org/Pdfs/mvball/2008/3/31/2008%20NECVA%20Tournament%20Bracket.pdf.