LANGHORNE, PA – The Highlanders' Women's Volleyball team hosted United East foe, Penn State – Abington in their season opener at home on Friday night, which has become the fourth round of the Bucks and Montgomery Kickoff Classic. Cairn took three-straight sets to defeat the Nittany Lions, 3-1.
In the opening set, Penn State – Abington (0-1) was able to scratch ahead 11-9 after trading serves with the Highlanders before Cairn (1-0) took the lead back 13-12 on an ace and kill each by sophomore middle hitter
Madison Delp (York, PA / Clarks Summit University) and senior opposite hitter
Hendryl Peabody (Bensalem, PA / Faith Baptist Christian Academy) before pushing ahead 16-13 from the Nittany Lions' attack errors. Abington tied the score at sixteen apiece as sophomore outside hitter
Bridget Dahn (Smithsburg, MD / Heritage Academy), senior outside hitter
Caroline Conrad (Bangkok, Thailand / International Community School), and sophomore middle blocker
Georgianna Thorpe (Southampton, PA / William Tennent) managed kills to take the lead back. The Nittany Lions forced the Highlander offense to make a move as they closed the gap to 25 points. Dahn and Peabody kept the charge alive with kills late in the set before Penn State – Abington took set one, 28-26.
Cairn got off to a slow start with three service errors in the opening points, falling behind 5-2 in the opening points. Dahn got the serve back for the Highlanders with a kill before she took over with her own serve, going on a 9-1 run behind two kills each from Conrad & Thorpe, running the score to 11-6. Conrad, Peabody, Delp, and then Peabody again struck for kills in that order as the Highlanders found themselves ahead 17-8. Dahn added another as Cairn closed in on the set victory 21-9, finishing off with two more for the 23
rd and 24
th points before Conrad sealed the deal with the final kill, winning set two, 25-13.
Set three continued the Highlander rhythm with four quick points out of the gate. The Nittany Lions tied the score at five and then seven apiece as Cairn tried to start up another run. Trailing 13-9, Abington fought to go ahead 16-15 with Dahn tying the score and Conrad & Delp going back-to-back with kills to gain the lead back. A late Nittany Lion charge was quickly silenced with Cairn scoring five unanswered points to close the frame via three straight kills from Dahn (25-22).
In the game-deciding fourth set, Dahn picked up right where she left off with an early kill as Cairn went up 10-5 in the midst of graduate setter
Olivia Zepp's (Westminster, MD / Francis Scott Key) 2,000
th career assist, becoming only the third player to surpass that mark (Betsy Ranck & Erin Greenwood) in 72 less sets played, in front of a standing ovation. Cairn was able to keep their distance and the Nittany Lions at bay as Zepp capped off her night with the final kill of the match, winning set four 25-17.
Zepp recorded a career-high 48 assists, including her 2,000
th career assist with a kill and ace. Conrad paced the offense with 17 kills and 18 points along with 15 digs. Peabody scored 17.5 points with 14 kills and 7 block assists with .367% hitting. Dahn scooped up a team-high 21 digs along with 12 kills. Thorpe rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 kills on .500% hitting.
As a team, the Highlanders captured their third-straight Bucks and Montgomery Kickoff Classic trophy, winning three of the last four matchups with Penn State – Abington.
The Highlanders return to action on the road at Marywood on Wednesday night with a scheduled start of 7 p.m.
