LANGHORNE, PA – For the privileged fanatics that lined the stands Thursday night in PBU’s Mason Activity Center, the semifinal match-up between PBU and Cabrini College was everything you might expect and hope for during a do-or-die type situation that includes rights to go to a conference championship on the line.

Everything, that is, except a win for the host squad.

Rallies, comebacks, and late game drama were all present in Cabrini’s 3-2 triumph over the Crimson Eagles as the third seeded Cavaliers escaped from Langhorne with a win despite deficits in total kills (47-42), aces (16-7), points (67-55), and return errors (7-16). Cabrini eventually won by scores of 25-16, 28-30, 25-23, 15-25, and 15-10, but only after 24 ties and nine lead changes transpired throughout the five set thriller.

After getting somewhat dominated in the opening rally thanks, in part, to a 20-11 Cavalier early lead, the Crimson Eagles pulled together in the second game by jumping out to a 20-13 advantage. But with PBU sitting in prime position to even things up, Cabrini responded by gutting out the next 11 of 15 points to eventually notch things at 24-all.

With both teams unwilling to conceded, the Crimson Eagles managed to hash out an arduous 30-28 win behind four Betsy Ranck assists over the final string of points to hoist the second rally.

There would be nine ties and three lead changes in the third set alone, but PBU’s paltry 0.29 hitting percentage in the stanza would ultimately doom the squad in the final moments, eventually falling by just two points in a 25-23 heartbreaker.

The Crimson eagles got back to business in set number four by  limiting Cabrini to what ended up being (by far) their worst sideout percentage of the night (20 percent), eventually running away with a somewhat easy 25-15 win.

But with the game, match, and ultimately postseason hopes on the line, the Crimson Eagles struggled in the final set to 15, falling by a count of 15-10 sparked, in part, by six costly unforced errors from the host squad.

The defeat ends PBU’s hopes of back-to-back championship seasons as the two-seeded Crimson Eagles are formally knocked out of CSAC postseason play with Thursday’s loss. Cabrini will move on to play in the championship bout scheduled for this Saturday at Neumann College.

Both Carly Plank and Rebecca Williams finished with double-doubles for the Crimson Eagles as the tandem combined for 28 kills and 22 stops defensively for PBU. Rebekah Morrison chipped in with 11 kills and five aces while Kay Lynn Zeiset added 15 digs and fives aces. Katy Kutzner charted 10 digs and Betsy Ranck finished with a match high of 35 assists.

With their NCAA playoff hopes dashed, the Crimson Eagles will turn their attention to the upcoming NCCAA II National Tournament the weekend of November 13 held in Omaha, NE. Check back to the website at a later time for new details.