Box Score | Eastern Mennonite
Box Score | Thiel

Huntingdon, PA - Philadelphia Biblical University fizzled down the stretch in the race for a Continental Volleyball Conference playoff spot. Heading into the final week of conference play, the Crimson Eagles needed to go 3-1 against their conference rivals to earn a spot in the post-season. Earlier in the week, PBU lost to both Stevenson and #4 Juniata but here was their chance to still make some noise in the standings.

First up, PBU took on Eastern Mennonite University for the fourth time this season. Having won the previous meeting, the Crimson Eagles were looking for a repeat. PBU jumped all over the Royals early on, leading 9-2, but EMU rallied back to tie things at 15-15. The two teams battled neck and neck but a John Barry kill sealed the first set for EMU, 25-23.

PBU was actually in control of the next two sets, winning both by the score 25-20, to take a 2-1 lead. Eastern Mennonite responded strongly though, finishing out the 4th set on a15-5 run to convincingly take a 25-11 set win and force a 5th set.

The Crimson Eagles came agonizingly close to sealing the match when they held a 13-10 lead in the 5th set, which is played to 15. But somehow the Royals once again rallied off a late run, this time 6-1, to sneak in at the finish line and steal the victory 16-14 and secure the 3-2 win.

Four Crimson Eagles finished with double-digit kills; Ethan Mawhinney (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) had 14, both Ryan Garven (Newtown, PA / Council Rock North) and Stephen Hirsch (Iselin, NJ / Homeschool) had 11 kills, but none had more than junior outside hitter Noah Prickett (Yardley, PA / Pennsbury) who finished with 15 plus a team-high 11 digs. Jon Wilson (Allentown, PA / Parkland) amassed 53 assists.

Without junior middle hitter Josh Tuttle (Eastport, NY / Eastport) who is out due to injury, the Crimson Eagles closed out the weekend against Thiel College. While not much separated these two teams, it would only take 4 sets to be decided.

No more than 3 points apart for the entire first set, the Crimson Eagles simply couldn't get out in front and fell in the opening set 25-22. A swift response came from PBU in the form of a 25-21 win to even the score. However, there was no denying Thiel College in the final showdown of the conference regular season. Thiel secured 25-18 and 28-26 set wins to seal the 3-1 victory.

Noah Prickett had an impressive 18 kills on 37 attacks in the absence to Josh Tuttle. Stephen Hirsch also impressed with 14 kills. Ryan Garven came up defensively with a team-high 12 digs.

With one week left in the men's volleyball regular season, PBU falls to 12-17; 1-7 in the very tough CVC. Out of playoff contention, the Crimson Eagles will look to make the most of the remaining matches, including an opportunity to play spoiler in next weekend's MIT Scrambler tournament where PBU will take on four different nationally ranked opponents.