The Virginia Wesleyan University men's volleyball team (14-6, 5-3 ODAC) was defeated by No. 2 Southern Virginia 3-0, losing 25-21, 27-25, and 25-12.
Christian Harris led the team with seven kills and five digs.
JaMarhe Wills had four kills, one service ace, one assist, and four digs, and teammate
Matthew Sheppard had two kills, one assist, five block assists, and led the team with 10 digs.
The two teams started well with Virginia Wesleyan keeping up with the Knights at 5-4. Southern Virginia rallied going on an 8-2 run to lead 13-6. The teams traded points and the Marlins outscored the Knights 8-7 to cut the lead to 20-14. VWU went on a 7-3 run to cut the lead to 23-21, but the Knights won the next two points to win the set 25-21.
In the second set, the Marlins scored the first two points to lead 2-0, but the Knights fought back to tie the set at 4-4. Southern Virginia continued their good run of play and led 8-6. However, VWU did not give up and was able to tie the game at 12-12 and completed the 4-0 run to take a 15-12 lead over SVU. The Marlins continued to fight hard and held a 19-15 lead to force an SVU timeout, but the Knights went on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 20-20. Virginia Wesleyan went on a 4-2 run to lead 24-22 to force a second SVU timeout. After the timeout, the Knights went on a 5-1 run to win the set 27-25.
In the third set, the Knights' offense caught fire and built a 16-5 lead over the Marlins. The Marlins were able to score points in the second half of the set, but the lead was too big and Southern Virginia won the third set 25-12.
