Cairn Downs Brandywine In Home Finale

MEDIA, Pa. -- Cairn University defeated the Penn State Brandywine volleyball team 3-0 (11-25, 18-25, 11-25) during the Lions' final home match of the season on Tuesday night.

Runs of 13-3 and 8-1 helped Cairn claim the opening set by a 25-11 count.

Brandywine fought back from an 11-7 deficit to take a 12-11 edge following back-to-back kills from Lexie Berry (Brookhaven, Pa./Daegu) and Hailey Piccirillo (Broadlands, Va./Virginia Academy). The Lions maintained a one-point edge after Emma O'Reilly's (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) kill made the count 17-16, but the Highlanders answered with five-straight and nine of the next 10 points to win the second frame 25-18.

After Brandywine jumped out to a 4-1 edge in the third set, Cairn recorded a 10-2 spurt to take the lead and then put the match away by collecting nine consecutive points later in the period.

Piccirillo registered a team-high five kills, while O'Reilly produced four and Laura Jezyk (Wilmington, Del./St. Elizabeth) tallied eight assists and one ace.

Ava De La Osa (Dania Beach, Fla./Nova) collected a team-best 12 digs and Anna Ramirez (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) added nine. Jezyk chipped in with six digs, while O'Reilly produced five.

Brandywine (6-16, 3-6 UEC) closes out the regular season Saturday at Lancaster Bible with matches against the host Chargers (12:00 PM) and Arcadia (2:00 PM).