READING, PA – Cairn Women's Volleyball extended their winning streak to five games on Wednesday night as the Highlanders were back on the road at Penn State Berks, sweeping the Nittany Lions, 3-0.
 
Opening with evenly matched rallies, Penn State Berks (4-10 / 1-2 UNITED EAST) briefly pulled ahead 8-6 ahead of kills from seniors Caroline Conrad (Bangkok, Thailand / International Community School), Hendryl Peabody (Bensalem, PA / Faith Baptist Christian Academy) and junior outside hitter Bridget Dahn (Smithsburg, MD / Heritage Academy) to tie things up at nine. The Nittany Lions then ran ahead 14-10 for their biggest lead of the set, holding on until Conrad took control of the serve, dropping in an ace with a kill apiece from Peabody and sophomore middle Madison Delp (York, PA / Clarks Summit University) to take a 20-19 lead. It was a race to the finish, pushed along with a kill from Dahn and key errors by Penn State Berks as Cairn (10-2 / 3-0 UNITED EAST) took the first set narrowly, 25-23.
 
Cairn got started in the second with a kill from Dahn to build a small lead and maintain. The Nittany Lions fired back and kept things close before Conrad had another ace with the serve back in the Highlanders' control to go ahead 12-8 and pushing the pace to 16-9 behind an ace from junior libero Payton Cline (Falling Waters, WV / Heritage Academy) and another kill from Peabody & Dahn. Cairn kept running, now 22-10 as freshman defensive specialist Liliana Magazzu (Reading, PA / Exeter) earned an ace and two kills from sophomore middle Georgianna Thorpe (Southampton, PA / William Tennent). Delp finished things off with the Highlanders taking the second set by a much larger, 25-13 margin.
 
Set three opened with the Nittany Lions up 6-2 before Dahn tallied an ace with a kill by Conrad to tie the score at six. With Penn State Berks back threatening ahead 12-8, the Highlanders would again tie the score behind Conrad's serve with a kill to help her own cause and kill from Peabody. This time they would keep the momentum on their side, running ahead 19-13 as Peabody and Thorpe each added two kills with two more aces from Cline. Freshman middle Maddie Shackelford (Warrington, PA / Plumstead Christian) took the final serve for Cairn, scoring two aces to win the match for the Highlanders, 25-19.
 
Peabody led in scoring with a game-high eleven kills and a block assist. Dahn and Thorpe each finished with seven kills, Dahn adding an ace for ten points. Conrad added eight kills and two aces. Cline totaled four aces while Shackelford had two.
 
The Highlanders remain undefeated in conference play ahead of their matchup with Notre Dame (MD) on Saturday, a rare doubleheader with the conference match at noon followed by a non-conference match with the Gators at 2 p.m.