LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University women's volleyball team opened up its 2022 campaign with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-15) shutout victory over non-conference opponent Penn State Abington at home on Thursday evening, marking Cairn's first season-opening victory since 2014. With the win, Cairn avenges last year's season-opening defeat, suffered at the hands of Penn State Abington on the road in 2021.
"I am so proud of the way that our team grinded out a win against a quality opponent." remarked Head Coach
Whitney Seidel.
"They worked so hard during preseason, both in their skill development and in their trust of each other, and it showed up tonight in a true team win. They never gave up, regardless of the score, and were committed to playing our brand of volleyball to earn the win. We are so excited to embrace the pressures of this season and build on this great start!"
Penn State Abington (0-1) earned the early advantage over Cairn (1-0) after taking a 16-11 lead in set one. The Nittany Lions increased their lead to 20-14 and seemed to be on their way to claiming the first set. However, the Highlanders snagged the next six points of the set (20-20) to flip momentum. Abington regained the lead at 22-20, but Cairn grabbed five of the final six points of the set, including three kills in the run by fifth-year
Allison Barnes (Macungie, PA / Salem Christian) to steal the set from the Nittany Lions.
Set two mirrored the progression of the first set, as Abington led 18-15 at the midway point, before Cairn turned in a five-point swing to take a 20-15 lead. Cairn did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the set, fending off a late push by the Nittany Lions to take a 2-0 lead in the match. With momentum fully in their favor, the Highlanders put away the Nittany Lions with a dominant, 25-15 triumph in set three to complete the shutout, highlighted by a string of three-consecutive blocks in the set by Barnes to help the Highlanders complete the sweep.
Barnes paced the Highlander attack with a match-high 15 kills to go along with four blocks and a .423 hitting percentage (both match-highs). Barnes was followed by senior
Kali Burres-Cheeley (Wanque, NJ / Hawthorne Christian) with 11 kills and 13 digs. Sophomore
Caroline Conrad (Bangkok, Thailand / International Community School) led the Highlander defense with a match-high 23 digs and hammered home nine kills. Junior
Olivia Zepp (Westminster, MD / Francis Scott Key) dished out a match-high 31 assists and scooped up 10 digs.
Cairn will be back in action on Saturday, September 3 when it welcomes Penn College of Technology to Langhorne for a non-conference contest inside the Mason Activity Center at 11 a.m.
