BUENA VISTA, Va. — The Southern Virginia University men's volleyball team concluded it's regular season Saturday night, as Continental Volleyball Conference rival No. 4 Kean University dashed the Knights' dream of an inaugural CVC playoff run. Saturday's 3-1 loss places the Knights in fourth place in the extremely strong west division, missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker with Eastern Mennonite.

In its first season in the CVC, the Knights recorded an 8-5 conference record (16-8 overall). Kean's win secures the Cougars (31-2, 12-1 CVC) the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which includes hosting rights of the semifinal and final matches next weekend.

The Knights jumped to a hot start, hitting .464 in the first set and taking the game 25-21 for a 1-0 lead. The Cougars picked up the intensity for the next two sets, topping Southern Virginia 25-19 and 25-16. 

In the fourth set, the Knights were relentless, and never trailed by more than three points. With the score at 20-20, the Knights allowed to points to the Cougars, including an apparent missed call from the officials which gave Kean a two-point advantage. Southern Virginia continued the grind, however, and knotted the game up 24-24 before conceding the next two points to the regular-season CVC champs. 

Nahuel Recabarren recorded 18 kills in an offensive display. He was followed by Paul Clark and Colby Wilson with nine and eight. Daniel Aina led the defense with 12 digs and Kaipo Tagaloa dished 36 assists.