LANGHORNE, Pa. – The Cairn University women's volleyball team won, 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-17, 25-19) at home against Albright College on Thursday evening, marking their 10
th win of the season in their final contest before Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) play begins on Saturday. With the win, the 2022 Highlanders become the quickest team in program history to reach 10 wins in a season (official records date back to 2003).
"Our team defense and aggressive serving is consistently keeping us in games against strong opponents." remarked Head Coach
Whitney Seidel.
"The overwhelming strength of our team, though, is our joy. We are so motivated by the opportunity to joyfully play for one another, and we have consistently used that joy as fuel to outlast anything our opponents throw at us. Going into conference play with a 10-2 record feels pretty special, and we're excited to keep growing as a team against CSAC competition!"
Albright (9-5) jetted out to a 5-1 lead to start the contest, before Cairn (10-2) with a five-point run to take the lead back at 7-5 in the first set. The rest of the set swung back-and-forth before the Highlanders found themselves up 23-18 near the later stage of the frame. The Lions made a push with four-straight points to cut the deficit to one (23-22) but the Highlanders answered by scoring two of the final three points to take set one. After Albright claimed a 25-19 triumph in set two, the Lions continued their momentum by claiming an 11-9 lead in set three. Cairn answered emphatically with a nine-point swing, highlighted by a solo block and two kills by senior
Kali Burres-Cheeley (Wanaque, NJ / Hawthorne Christian) and the Highlanders claimed a 25-17 victory to take a 2-1 match lead. Albright kept things close, trailing just 10-9 at the midway point of set four, but the Highlanders put the match away with an 11-1 run to seal the four-set victory.
Cairn was led offensively by fifth-year
Allison Barnes (Macungie, PA / Salem Christian) with a career-high 18 kills to go along with six service aces and five blocks (four solo, both match-highs). Sophomore
Hendryl Peabody (Bensalem, PA / Faith Baptist Christian Academy) followed with eight kills, while sophomore
Caroline Conrad (Bangkok, Thailand / International Community School) led the back line with a team-high 21 digs. Cairn had five different players register double figures in the dig category, as freshman
Payton Cline (Falling Waters, WV / Heritage Academy) racked up 20, junior
Olivia Zepp (Westminster, MD / Francis Scott Key) collected 15, and seniors
Lizzy Fay (Langhorne, PA / Neshaminy) and Burres-Cheeley posted 11 and 10, respectively. Zepp also dished out a team-high 30 assists. To this point, Cairn sits seventh among NCAA Division III counterparts with 19.7 digs per set as a team.
The Highlanders will be back on the floor on Saturday, October 1 when they open up conference play at home against the University of Valley Forge inside the Mason Activity Center at 11 a.m.
