Harrisonburg, VA – In similar fashion to the men's volleyball match against Eastern Mennonite earlier this season, the Highlanders took the Royals to five sets but lost in the end. The two teams traded set wins with Cairn winning the second and fourth sets (21-25, 26-24, 18-25, 25-22, 11-15).
The Royals were essentially an attacking machine throughout this match, hitting 62 kills on 156 attempts. Eastern Mennonite also hit 29 errors and this led to a .212 attack percentage. Scott Brigham led the team with 24 kills.
Cairn also attacked the ball well but had 48 kills total, also with 29 attacking errors. The Highlanders managed 45 assists in all, as well as 47 digs. Alex Lower picked up 41 of the assists and led the team in digs with 12. Leading the way for the Highlanders on the attacking front was Randal Colson with 16 kills on 37 attempts.
The Highlanders held the lead for most of the first set; up until the score was 19-18 following a 3-0 run by the Royals that forced a Cairn timeout. The Highlanders got the next point out of the timeout but Eastern Mennonite won the set on a 6-2 run, 25-21.
Cairn turned things around in the second set but jumping out to a 4-1 lead and then a 9-5 lead on a 4-0 run with Josiah Buss at the serving line. Eastern Mennonite eventually clawed their way back to a tie at 19-19. The teams traded points and the Royals took the lead 23-22 and even had set point at 24-23. Buss finished with eight kills for the day but also had eight errors.
However, Colson stopped their momentum with a big kill out of the middle and then two attack errors by the Royals gave Cairn the win at 26-24.
Eastern Mennonite then got the better of Cairn in the third set and won easily, 25-18.
The fourth set is where the Highlanders shifted into another gear and found their swing. Cairn hit 14 kills compared to 11 for the Royals. Colson had five of his kills in the fourth set, followed by Ryan Garven with three. Cairn didn't give up the lead throughout the entirety of the set and won 25-22 over the Royals. Garven finished the match with nine kills and five errors.
A fifth set is always a challenging ordeal, especially considering that Cairn's only other five-set match this season was a loss to the Royals just eight days ago. The Highlanders played well up until the score was knotted at seven each.
Eastern Mennonite won the all-important eighth point and the teams made the switch to the opposite side of the court. The Royals then won the next four points, putting Cairn in a 12-7 hole. Cairn just couldn't get themselves back into the game after that and lost 15-11 in the final set.
Unfortunately the loss marked Cairn's fourth CVC loss this season and they dropped to 7-8 overall. Eastern Mennonite improved to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference with the win. The Highlanders will next host Juniata College on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m.
