Langhorne, PA - In a crucial conference game, Cairn University defeated Marywood University in women's volleyball.
Marywood has knocked Cairn out of the CSAC playoffs for the past two seasons and the two teams have developed into a conference rivalry. As the Pacers traveled to Cairn Wednesday night, things were certain to be intense.
In the opening set, the two teams were never more than 4 point apart. The Highlanders led the early stages until a Marywood grabbed a 15-14 lead. Then with the scored tied 16-16, the Pacers rolled off 4 consecutive points to open up a 20-16 lead, before Cairn fought back to 20-19. But they were unable to bridge the gap as the Pacers took the opening set 25-23.
The second set was practically a mirror image of the first set, only this time reversed. Marywood led the early stages until Cairn got their first lead at 10-9. From there, the Highlanders pushed it to 14-10 only for the Pacers to fight back to 14-13. Both teams matched each other point for point all the way to the end, but eventually the Highlanders pulled out the win this time by the same score line, 25-23.
Going into a crucial third set with the match all square at 1-1, Cairn jumped all over the Pacers early on. The Highlanders built a 5-1 lead and extended that to a 9-2 advantage. But Marywood clawed their way back to a only a 9-6 deficit. The Highlanders responded by going on a 9-3 run, to open up an 18-9 lead. The Pacers, once again, climbed their way back into with a 4-9 run of their own, but it wasn't enough as the Highlanders closed up shop and settled it with a 25-21 score.
Needing one more set to for the victory, the Highlanders used several small runs to finish off the Pacers. Tied at 4-4, Cairn went on a 7-1 run opening up an 11-5 score. Then with the score at 15-10, Cairn used another run, this time rolling off 10 points to Marywood's 4, to claim a 25-14 4th set win and take the match 3-1.
Cairn's
Emily Mayer was outstanding on the night, leading all hitters with 18 kills, a career-high for her.
Brigid Shehan notched 11 kills, tying her season-high, and 23 digs, another season-high, to complete an all-around game.
Erin Greenwood broke the 40 assists mark, with a 42 assists night. Both
Abbie Keating and
Ashleigh Colomina finished with 13 digs.
Ashley Zalewski paced Marywood with 13 kills.
Cairn has another tough match against league leading Cabrini on Saturday. The Cavaliers currently sit in first place, 5-0 in CSAC play.
