Langhorne, PA – Cairn University men's volleyball returned to conference action on Friday evening and were defeated by the Tomcats of Thiel University in three sets. The Tomcats rallied in set one to come back and win 26-24; the momentum carried Thiel through the next two sets 25-22 and 25-20.
Errors plagued the Highlanders throughout the match and Cairn had an overall hitting percentage of -.011 committing more errors than hitting kills. Cairn also hit into a tall opposition up front and were blocked 11 times in the match.
Andy Willits led the Highlanders in kills with eight, followed by
Micah Godshall with six and
David Dager with five.
Matthew Gump finished with 22 assists and
Ryan Ludvik collected 12 digs as the libero. Godshall led all players with three service aces.
Cairn looked poised to win the first set, up 23-19, but Thiel came back with three kills along with an attack error by the Highlanders to tie the game at 23-23. Following a timeout by the Highlanders, the Tomcats earned the next point to go up 24-23.
David Dager kept the match even at 24-24 with a kill. However, Thiel finished off the set with kills from Regan Hess and Duane Emanuel.
The Highlanders led early on in set two, 11-8, but a 4-0 run from Thiel put them ahead 12-11. Cairn found a lead later on, 19-17, after a triple block from
Andy Willits,
Matthew Gump, and
Tyler Schuhly. However, the wind was taken out of the Highlanders' sails when they followed that with three straight errors.
Thiel's final three points of the second set were also from Cairn errors and the Tomcats won it 25-22. Cairn's only lead in the third set was the first point and the Tomcats went on to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
Thad Paunovich and Cody Patterson led the Tomcats in attacking with seven kills each, while Duane Emanuel finished with eight blocks. Zach Rombach picked up 23 assists and Jeffrey Coffy collected 11 digs for Thiel.
Cairn fell to 4-8 overall and 0-6 in the CVC with the loss. Thiel picked up their first win of the season and moved to 1-8 overall and 1-4 in the conference with the win. The Highlanders will turn around and host Juniata College tomorrow, Saturday Feb. 27, at 1 p.m.
