Langhorne, PA – The Highlanders recognized their seniors on Friday evening when they hosted Thiel College in a CVC matchup in the Mason Activity Center. Cairn lost the match 3-0 (21-25, 22-25, 17-25) to the Tomcats and dropped to 10-16 overall with the result.
 
Cairn started out the match on the right foot and quickly built a large lead at 13-5. Three out of their first four points came from blocks by the Highlanders. Cairn had another block for their 11^th point; this one from Ryan Garven and Michael Emond. Garven and Emond were two of the seniors recognized before the game.
 
The Highlanders continued to build on their lead until they had an 18-8 advantage in the first set. Unfortunately that was where the momentum stopped for the Highlanders. From that point, Thiel finished out the first set on a 17-3 run to win 25-21.
 
The second set was played much tighter than the first, with neither team gaining an advantage of more than three points. The Highlanders hit their best percentage throughout the second set with 15 kills and five errors for a .303. However, they could not gain an advantage down the stretch and fell 25-22.
 
Andy Willits came into the game for the Highlanders and played the second and third sets and had nine kills. Leading the team for Cairn in the match was Ryan Garven with 11 kills and a .250 hitting percentage. Randall Colson had seven kills with one error and a .463 hitting percentage.
 
The other two seniors that were recognized before the match were Matthew Rhodes and Josiah Buss. Rhodes and Buss combined for 19 digs in the match to lead the team defensively. Buss also finished with six kills in the match.
 
Thiel seemed to get into a stride in the third set and didn't let Cairn lead like the first two sets. The first five points for each team were played evenly but once the Tomcats went ahead they didn't give up their lead. The Tomcats finished out the third set 25-17 and the match in three sets. Thiel was led by Alex Ciepiela with 10 kills.
 
Cairn dropped to 0-11 in the conference with the loss, while Thiel improved to 11-11 overall and 4-6 in the CVC. The Highlanders will return to action tomorrow when they face off against Stevenson University at home for their final match of the season.