ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The top-seeded Cedar Crest College volleyball team took down No. 4 seed Cairn University in straight sets in a United East Conference-Skye Division semifinal match at Lees Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

The Falcons won by set scores of 25-17, 25-20, and 25-23.

The Highlanders got out to a 7-4 lead in the opening set after a 3-0 run, finished off by a kill by Caroline Conrad. Cedar Crest slowly closed the gap and knotted the score at 11 after a kill by senior Ava Grapsy (Macungie, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic). Cairn then went on a 5-1 run to grab the 16-12 advantage. The Falcons then embarked on a 12-0 run behind strong serving from Grapsy to gain control of the set, 24-16. After a Cedar Crest attack error, a kill by junior Akashia Johnson (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) gave the Falcons the eight-point win, 25-17.

The Falcons doubled up the Highlanders in the early going of the second set, 8-4. Following two straight points by Cairn to cut the margin to two, 11-9, the Falcons went on a 7-0 spurt to extend the lead to nine, 18-9, finished off by an error by the visitors. The Highlanders answered back with six-straight points to trim the deficit to three, 19-16, but Cedar Crest outscored Cairn 6-4 over the remainder of the frame to take it by a 25-20 score.

The home team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set. The Falcons led by as many as six multiple times in the stanza, but after a setting error by Cairn to cut the margin to six, 21-15, the Highlanders went on an 8-2 run to tie the frame at 23. A kill by Everett and a Highlanders attack error closed out the set for Cedar Crest, 25-18.

Everett guided the Falcons with 10 kills, two blocks, and a dig. Grapsy chipped in six kills, six service aces, one block, 15 assists, and seven digs. Minyo added six kills and 13 digs. Johnson pitched in six kills, one block, and one dig. Senior Ziah Melton (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) registered five kills, two blocks, and two digs. Junior Alexis Cummins (Stafford, Va./Colonial Forge) had three kills, one service ace, one block, and seven digs. First-year Nikki Blair (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) tallied 16 assists, three service aces, and six digs. Senior Rebekka Sanchez-Castro (Columbia, Md./Atholton) paced the Cedar Crest defense with 20 digs.

Cedar Crest (15-8 overall) advances to the United East Conference Skye Division Finals and will host No. 2 seed Notre Dame of Maryland University on Thursday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m.

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