LANGHORNE, Pa. — The Pratt Institute men's volleyball team saw its three-match winning streak come to an end Wednesday night, falling to Cairn University in a hard-fought United East Conference match, 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-22).
The loss marks the first in conference play for Pratt (5-8, 2-1 United East) after opening for the first time at 2-0.
Senior Max Wang (Shenzhen, China) led the black-and-gold with a team-high 10 points, powered by five service aces, four kills and a team-best six digs. Brooks Reid (Winston Salem, N.C.) paced the offense with five kills. Griffin Benkovszky (Ashland, Va.) and Morvens Regis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each chipped in four kills, with Benkovszky adding five digs.
Nathan Kim (Irvine, Calif.) directed the offense with 15 assists and collected five digs. Raymond Liang (Queens, N.Y.) also finished with five digs on the defensive end.
The match was tighter than the final score indicated, with the first and third sets going down to the wire and 14 lead changes in total. The Cannoneers battled to a 19-19 tie in the opening frame before a late push from the Highlanders made the difference. Pratt again showed its resilience in the third in a back-and-forth set and pulling within on late, 23-22, on an ace from Wang, but Cairn scored the next two points to seal the match.
Cairn (5-15, 2-1 United East) was led by a powerful performance from Sam Poirier, who finished with a match-high 16 kills on a stellar .583 hitting percentage to go with 11 digs. Nehemiah Clark added 11 kills, and setter Josh Adler distributed 30 assists for the efficient Highlanders offense.
The Cannoneers continues their four-match road stand heading to Washington, D.C., for a United East tri-match on Saturday, March 7. Pratt will face host Gallaudet University at 11 a.m. before taking on Penn State Behrend in a neutral-site, non-conference contest.
