BUENA VISTA, Va. — The Southern Virginia University men's volleyball team nearly completed comebacks in the final moments of sets four and five, but No. 14 Eastern Mennonite kept the match just out of reach as they handed the No. 8 Knights their first home loss in program history and won the Continental Volleyball Conference matchup 3-2.

The Royals (15-5, 7-2 CVC) stole set one 25-23 before the Knights (10-5, 4-3 CVC) bounced back with 25-18 and 26-24 victories in the second and third sets. 

Southern Virginia trailed 19-10 in the fourth set before mounting a comeback with Kaipo Tagaloa and Paul Clark on the service line, pulling within two and then knotting the game at 23-23. EMU would score the next two points to force a deciding set.

In the fifth, the Royals jumped to a five-point lead, 11-6 before the Knights kicked it in gear and tied it up at 14 all. After the fourth match point, Eastern Mennonite blocked a Knight attack to seal the victory.

The Knights out-attacked Eastern Mennonite 63-41, but committed 28 service errors. Nahuel Recabarren and Clark led the attack with 22 and 20 kills. Clark led the team with 10 digs and a pair of service aces. Tagaloa tied his career-high with 53 assists.

The Knights will head on their final multi-game road trip of the season as they play at Cairn on Friday before facing Ramapo and No. 7 Dominican (IL) on Saturday.