LANCASTER, Pa. – The Cairn University men's volleyball team fell in four sets (3-1) in both of their matches against Lancaster Bible College (8-25, 17-25, 25-23, 15-25) and Geneva College (19-25, 13-25, 25-11, 9-25) in a non-conference tri-match at LBC on Saturday afternoon.
 
In the first match, LBC (9-4) showed their prowess in the first set, claiming a 25-8 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Cairn (0-3) competed in the second set and was within five (21-16) in the later portion of the set, but the Chargers closed on a 4-1 run to take a 2-0 match lead. With their backs against the wall, the Highlanders found themselves down 16-12 before rattling off a five-point swing to take their first lead at 17-16. LBC battled back to reclaim the lead at 22-21, but Cairn snagged four of the last five points to win the set and win its first set of the match. Cairn looked to send the match to a fifth set when it led 10-7 in set four, but another five-point run by the Chargers gave them momentum, which they used to finish off the match.
 
Cairn was led offensively in the first match by senior Dave Cassel (Silverdale, PA / Pennridge) who slammed down a season-high nine kills, while junior Caleb Horning (Adamstown, PA / Cocalico) added eight kills. Junior Shea Scott (Harleysville, PA / Souderton) dished out a career-high 26 assists and junior Josh Moyer (Quakertown, PA / Quakertown Community) led the defensive effort with a season-high 12 digs.
 
In the second match, the Highlanders started out better, battling to a 14-13 lead midway through the frame, before Geneva (4-8) turned in a six-point rally to take a 19-14 lead and finished off the set. The Highlanders claimed a 25-13 victory in set two to knot the match up at one a-piece. However, the Golden Tornadoes finished off the match with comfortable triumphs in sets three (25-11) and four (25-9) to win the match.
 
Cassel again paced the Highlander offense in the second match, tying a team-high with eight kills with Horning and scooped up a team-high nine digs. Cassel accumulated a .250 hitting percentage while Horning grabbed eight digs. Scott dished out a team-high 25 assists, while sophomore Joe Poirier (Nogyang, South Korea / International Christian School) added three kills to the tune of a .600 hitting percentage.
 
Cairn will be back in action on Tuesday, February 15 when it travels to Neumann University to take on the Knights in a road non-conference bout at 7 p.m.