GREENVILLE, PA - The Cairn men's volleyball team took on Thiel College Friday, finishing the highly contested match 3-2. Cairn came away with the win for the first two sets, with the second two taken by Thiel. The Highlanders cleaned up the contest with a score of 15-9 in the fifth set.The Tomcats were just ahead of the Highlanders in kills leading 49-46, in digs leading 56-53, and tied the Highlanders 9-9 in aces. Cairn, however, led the match with blocks leading 7-6, as well as with assists, leading 44-43. Overall, Cairn finished the match with a .206 attack percentage, in comparison to the .131 percentage of Thiel.The Highlanders kept the lead strong with a consistent 2 point lead over the Tomcats throughout the first set. Toward the end of the set, Zach Romabach of the Tomcats made a ball handling error and put the Highlanders further in the lead at 19-14. Senior middle Dan Winters of the Highlanders produced a solid block and brought the score to a set-high of 20-16. The Highlanders maintained the lead to finish the set at 25-19.In the second set, Cairn held onto their momentum from start to finish. Sophomore outside hitter Micah Godshall connected for a kill from freshman setter Matthew Gump, placing the Highlanders at a stable lead of 18-15. Feeding from the energy, sophomore outside hitter Andy Willits increased the score 19-15 with a service ace.
Leading the Highlanders in kills was Micah Godshall with 13, closely followed by Andy Willits with 12 and David Dager with 10. Dan Winters earned 4 blocks, and Matthew Gump finished with 38 assists. Ryan Ludvik led the team with 13 digs.
To finish the match, Cairn allowed Thiel only 9 points in the third set, while the Highlanders collected 15. Though closely contested, Cairn successfully minimized the final efforts of Thiel throughout the third set.
Cody Patterson of the Tomcats led with 16 kills, followed by Regan Hess and Thad Paunovich who collected 8 each. Jeffrey Coffy finished with 14 digs, accompanied by Nate Roche and Zach Rombach who each finished with 12. Zach Rombach also led the Tomcats with 36 assists.
Cairn improves to 6-13 overall, and 1-10 in the conference. Thiel drops to 3-10 overall and 1-10 in the CVC. The Highlanders will conclude their 2015-2016 season at Juniata on April 2nd, at 7pm.
