Langhorne, PA – The Cairn Highlanders played their first CVC game of the season Friday night against Eastern Mennonite University where they battled to a 3-2 loss to the Royals. Cairn was down 2-0 in the match but rallied back to win the next two and force a fifth set. Unfortunately the Highlanders couldn't hold on for the win as Eastern Mennonite improved to 4-1 overall.
 
Cairn continued to attack the ball well but ultimately committed too many errors to get past Eastern Mennonite. The Highlanders killed the ball more than twice as many times as the Royals in set one, but also committed more errors.
 
Leading the way for the Highlanders in attacking was Andy Willits with a season-high 19 kills and just four attacking errors, for a .385 percentage. Randall Colson came in behind him with 17 kills and seven attacking errors, while Josiah Buss hit 16 kills with 10 attacking errors.
 
The Highlanders held a lead throughout most of the second set, including a 22-20 advantage down the stretch. However, two kills by Dan Lutz for the Royals and two attacking errors by the Highlanders gave Eastern Mennonite the lead 24-23. After a Highlander timeout, Cairn tied the game at 24-24 and 25-25 but the Royals then finished off the set with two strong kills.
 
Both teams had high-powered third sets but Cairn's offense prevailed with 15 kills and a .379 attacking percentage. The Highlanders built leads of up to five points at a time that the Royals ultimately couldn't come back from. A 3-0 run, capped by a Michael Emond service ace, put Cairn up 21-17 and sealed the third set win 25-21 for the Highlanders.
 
Leading either team in assists was Alex Lower with a career-high 52; his opposition, Zach Guiciardi, had 42 for the match. On the defensive end, Micah Godshall dug the ball 17 times for Cairn, followed by Matthew Rhodes with 11.
 
The fourth set saw lower kill numbers for both teams but the Royals' attacking errors went up and the Highlanders took advantage. Cairn went up 14-8 in the fourth set, however Eastern Mennonite recovered with great blocking up front. Eastern Mennonite actually took the lead at 16-15 but Cairn had multiple runs to get back on top and win the fourth set 25-21.
 
It looked like Cairn would be able to ride the momentum heading into the fifth set when Willits opened up with another huge kill but the Royals had other plans. Eastern Mennonite jumped out to a 9-3 lead that forced the Highlanders to take a timeout.
 
The Highlanders made a valiant effort to come to within three at 12-9 but it wasn't quite enough to get past the Royals. Cairn will have to collect their first CVC win another day, but Eastern Mennonite will start their conference slate 1-0.
 
"Every match in the conference is going to be a challenge," explained head coach Ben Fuller after the match. "I think we could have kept things a little cleaner but the guys still played well and hung in tough until the very end."
 
With the loss the Highlanders moved to 5-5 overall and 0-1 in the CVC. Cairn will travel to Lancaster Bible College this weekend for a tri-match against the hosts and Bluefield College (Va.).