By Paul Monson

BUENA VISTA, Va.— The No. 12 Southern Virginia University men's volleyball swept Thiel College 3-0 on Friday night to keep its Continental Volleyball Conference playoff hopes alive. 

After dropping a heartbreaker at Marymount last weekend, the Knights (15-7, 7-4 CAC) bounced back in strong fashion to defeat conference opponent Thiel (9-17, 3-9 CAC). Southern Virginia came out striking early to take the first game 25-20. The rest of the night never got any closer than that as the Knights took the second and third games 25-19 and 25-18. 

Mitch Usevitch had a perfect performance on the evening as he had 10 kills on 10 total attacks, finishing the game with a 1.000 hitting percentage. Junior Paul Clark, led the team in kills with 11 in the match. Setter Kaipo Tagaloa, also had a great game as he finished with 26 total assists. 

The Knights return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on a tough conference opponent, Rutgers-Newark. The Knights win their remaining two games to make the conference playoffs. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in the Knight Sports Arena.