DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's volleyball team dropped a close first set to Cairn before rallying to win three-straight for the victory over the Highlanders Tuesday night.
 
The first set had the Aggies in the lead at least three times with a 6-0 run putting the team ahead by five over Cairn, 17-12. The Highlanders ultimately clawed their way back with an 8-1 spurt to take a single-point lead, 21-20. DelVal tied it up, but Cairn held the 4-1 advantage to take the set 25-22.
 
The momentum shifted in the Aggies' favor at the start of the second set with a 4-0 run highlighted by three Gretta Schneider service aces to put DelVal in an early 4-0 lead. Cairn was in pursuit by DelVal remained ahead by at least five three different times eventually allowing the Highlanders to enclose bringing the gap down to three, 13-10. The Aggies continued to mount a lead creating a seven-point deficit for the Highlanders, 21-14. Cairn responded with a 4-0 run, but it was too little too late as DelVal finished off the set with four-straight to take the win, 25-18.
 
The Highlanders started off the attack in the third set pulling ahead by three with a quick 5-1 run, 5-2. DelVal remained in chase with three-straight kills from Victoria Tucker and Olivia Deffendall helping the Aggies on a 5-0 run to take the three-point lead, 10-7. The kills for DelVal continued with Emma Helverson and Schneider joining the attack pushing the Aggies to a 20-11 lead over the Highlanders. Cairn put up five more points, but was unable to get a scoring run going leaving the Aggies to take the set 25-16.
 
The fourth and final set was a battle with the teams trading points to start until the service aces began flowing for Tucker netting three consecutive to help the Aggies on a 6-0 run for the seven-point lead, 12-5. DelVal maintained its lead putting up nine more points thanks to four kills from Schneider paired with two from Monique Smith and one from Helverson to come just four points of the win, 21-16. A 4-2 run from Cairn closed the gap to three, 23-20, but a Helverson kill and an error on the Highlanders finished it off for the Aggies, 25-20.
 
Both Schneider and Helverson ended the game with double-digit kills recording 17 and 11, respectively. Schneider also led the team in service aces with five followed closely by Tucker with three. Schneider also led the Aggies on defense with a team-high 15 digs. Samantha Wilton (14), Emily Yun (13) and Grace Wilson all joined Schneider in the double-digit dig column.
 
DelVal returns to action this Thursday, Sep. 14 at Centenary University (New Jersey) for a 7 p.m. matchup.