Box Score

Langhorne, PA - The Highlanders did enough at the net to give themselves a chance to win against #11 Elmira College but a high number of services errors doomed Cairn's bid for an upset.

Cairn had a comfortable lead throughout the opening set, starting things off on a 7-2 run. Elmira would get as close as 12-10 before pulled away and claimed an opening set 25-20.

Neither team could gain an edge in the second set as the teams went back-and-forth until the score read 15-15. At that point, a service error on Cairn kick-started a 4-0 run for Elmira and giving them their biggest lead of the set to that point, 19-15. It was enough for Elmira to glide to a 25-18 win and even things up at 1-1.

It can be debated whether Elmira took hold of proceedings in the third set or if the high number of Cairn service errors simply handed the upperhand to the visitors, but either way Elmira controlled the third set and easily took a 2-1 lead on the day with a 25-13 win.

The Highlanders snapped out of their funk about a third of the way through the fourth set, needing to force a fifth set to have a chance at victory. It wasn't until after Elmira had an early 10-5 lead though. Cairn fought back to within one point at 14-13 and again at 19-18 to let Elmira know they weren't going quietly. After a late push, Elmira thought they had things wrapped up when leading 24-21. But three straight points for the Highlanders tied the game up at 24-24. An Eagles block and kill from Erik Griffin quickly gave Elmira the two point win they needed to close things out, 26-24.

Four different Cairn's notched double-digit kills on the day, led by senior outside-hitter Noah Prickett with a game-hightie of 15. Stephen Hirsch(13) and Josh Tuttle (11) both finished with season-highs, while Ethan Mawhinney (10) followed. Tuttle had a game-high 12 digs on defense. It is not uncommon for the losing team to have a player finish with the most assists, but rarely is it by a large margin. Jon Wilson finished with 48 assists, a career-high for a 4-set match, 13 more than Elmira's setter Michael Vellutato with 35. In fact, Wilson had 7 more assists than the entire Elmira team.

Ryan Gelenitis paced the Soaring Eagles with a share in game-highs of 15 kills and 12 digs.

Cairn finished with 51 kills to Elmira's 45. The biggest discrepancy between the teams was the service efficiency. Elmira edged Cairn 4-3 on service aces, but the Highlanders committed twice as many service errors, 24-12.  

Cairn will take some time off before their next match against Baruch College on February 26. The Highlanders will travel to New York, NY for the 7:30 match.