MORRISTOWN, N.J. – The Cairn University men's volleyball team won, 3-2 (27-25, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12) on the road at Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) adversary Saint Elizabeth University in a battle on the conference's top-two teams on Wednesday evening. With the win, the Highlanders earned their 11
th straight victory and secured the top seed in the upcoming CSAC Playoffs next week.
In what was bound to be a barn burner between the two best teams in the league, Cairn (12-4, 10-0 CSAC) and Saint Elizabeth (11-5, 7-2 CSAC) battled through a hotly-contested first set and were locked at 25 a-piece nearing its conclusion. The Highlanders won the opening frame on back-to-back kills from junior
Caleb Horning (Adamstown, PA / Cocalico) and sophomore
Will Nase (Harleysville, PA / Souderton) to take a 1-0 match lead. After the Eagles claimed the second set (25-21) to knot the match up at one-all, the Highlanders were close to earning a third-set victory, leading 23-20 near the end of the stanza. However, Saint Elizabeth swung momentum firmly in its favor, ending the set with five-consecutive points to take a 2-1 match lead. Needing a win to stay in the match, Cairn boasted a 22-20 lead before scoring three of the final four points, headlined by a pair of kills from sophomore
Joe Poirier (Nogyang, South Korea / International Christian School) to send the match to a fifth and final set. The Highlanders and Eagles once again proved why this could have been a preview of the CSAC Championship match, as Cairn held a slim 12-11 lead near the sets conclusion. After an attack error by the Eagles gave the Highlanders a 13-11 lead, Saint Elizabeth got a quality look to their best player in outside hitter
Kodi Peters. However, Cairn had the answer, as junior
Shea Scott (Harleysville, PA / Souderton) rose up and met the reigning CSAC Player of the Year at the net, collecting the crucial block to give the Highlanders a 14-11 advantage.
Cairn won the match two points later on a kill from Horning to finish off the Eagles for the thrilling five-set victory.
Cairn was led offensively by Horning, who hammered home a career-high 16 kills to go along with eight digs, while Poirier followed with a career-high 14 kills to the tune of a .435 hitting percentage and a rejected a team-high five blocks. Nase posted 12 kills to pair with 10 digs, while Scott dished out a team-high 35 assists and scooped up a career-high 13 digs. Scott also matched junior
Joshua Hoagland (Chiang Rai, Thailand / Chiang Rai International Christian School) with four blocks, while classmate
Josh Moyer (Quakertown, PA / Quakertown Community) corralled 10 digs.
Cairn will be back in action on Thursday, March 31 when it returns home to take on conference foe Pratt Institute inside the Mason Activity Center with Senior Night festivities taking place before the match at 7 p.m.
