Langhorne, PA - The Cairn men's volleyball team battled their way to their first CVC win of the season in five sets against Stevenson University on Saturday afternoon. Last time these two teams faced off earlier in the year, the Mustangs swept the Highlanders 3-0. The win was the first for the Highlanders over the Mustangs since 2011.

With the Highlanders at the bottom of the CVC standings this season a playoff spot was already out of the picture, but that didn't stop them from ending the year on a high note. 

Cairn fought their way out of the second set after Stevenson came back to tie the game after being down for a majority of the set. The Highlanders led until the Mustangs tied up the score at 19-19. Cairn gave themselves a chance at closing out the set, leading 24-22, but Stevenson wouldn't go away.

The Mustangs hit two kills in a row to tie at 24-24 and then had set point, ahead by one, four times before the set ended. With Cairn down 29-28, Josiah Buss hit a kill to tie and Alex Lower hit a kill to go ahead by one. The winning point for the Highlanders came on the next rally with an attack error by Stevenson.

Stevenson won the first set convincingly, 25-16, and won the third set similarly with a 25-18 score. The Mustangs were led in kills in the match by Nate Ellis with 15; two other players followed with 12 kills each. Stevenson's setter, David Moler, finished with 53 assists.

The fourth set was where the Highlanders really turned the tables in the match. Seventeen of the Highlanders 25 points came from kills; seven more than the Mustangs in the set. Cairn was down 20-18 but responded with four striaght points; two of which were points by Michael Emond (kill, solo block). Emond finished with three block assists as well.

Stevenson called a timeout down 22-20 and came out of the timeout with two straight points to tie up the set at 22-22. However, the Highlanders finished off the Mustangs with three straight kills; the first from Andy Willits and the next two from Randall Colson. 

Leading the way for Cairn in attacking was Josiah Buss with 21 kills; a number that matches his career-high that he recently set against Wells College on Mar. 7. That total puts Buss at 250 kills for this season. 

Matthew Rhodes led the team defensively with 16 digs, putting him above the 500-mark for his career at Cairn. Rhodes' efforts brings his digs total to 504. 

Alex Lower topped his season-best performance with 57 assists in the match, bringing his season total to 811 in 2015. Other notable performances for Cairn in today's match came from Randall Colson and Andy Willits, each with 13 kills. Ryan Garven finished the match with 12 kills.

In the fifth set, Cairn took control early and jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Stevenson came to within two points of tying but the Highlanders stayed in front and got the final kill from Ryan Garven to end the match. 

With the win, Cairn finished their 2015 season with an 11-16 overall record and 1-11 CVC record. Stevenson moved to 15-11 overall and 6-3 in the conference with the loss.