LANGHORNE, PA (February 8, 2020) -- The King's College men's volleyball team rallied from their first loss of the season on Wednesday to sweep their road tri-match, defeating the host Cairn University Highlanders 3-0 and the York College (NY) Cardinals 3-0, to improve to 7-1 on the season.

vs. Cairn (25-23, 25-16, 25-19):

King's opened the match on a 6-2 run featuring kills by junior Danny Harpersberger and sophomore Matt Piontkowski, before the host Highlanders pulled within two, 8-6. The Monarchs rallied behind back-to-back terminations from freshman Joe Joe Herman and senior Kyle Duggan to start a 6-2 run that saw them leading, 14-8. Cairn attempted to rally back in the opening set, using two separate three-point runs (14-16, 17-19), but King's used three Highlanders errors and a Herman kill to take set one, 25-23.

The Monarchs continued their momentum into the second set, starting with an 11-4 run as they cruised to a second set victory, 25-16.

It was a similar story in the final set of the match, as King's began with a 6-2 run behind two kills by Piontkowski. Cairn pulled within two twice, once at 12-10 and then again at 13-11, before the two teams traded points that saw the Monarchs leading, 17-13. Three straight points from the Highlanders saw them pull within one, 17-16, but King's used an 8-3 run over the final stretch to secure the third set, 25-19, and the match, 3-0. 

Herman paced the Monarchs offense in the opening match, totaling 15 kills on 28 attempts, hitting .464, with seven digs and a solo block for 16 points. Sophomore Matt Piontkowski recorded seven kills on 14 attempts, hitting .375, and freshman Sam Capwell added six kills for the match. Duggan led the defense with nine digs, and freshman setter George Beck dished out 19 assists.

Cairn was led by Anton Deleon with 11 kills and Ben Norton with 10 kills. Sam Gabriels and Dave Cassel paced the defense with seven digs each, and Scott Bassill recorded a match-high 25 assists. In addition, Deleon and Cassel led with three total blocks each.

The Monarchs hit .280 for the match compared to the Highlanders .139. They also held the advantage in kills (38-34), assists (29-27), and digs (30-28).

vs. York (NY) (25-13, 27-25, 25-17):

The first set of the closing match saw the two team's tied at 4 before York scored four straight to take an 8-4 lead. King's answered, scoring 12 unanswered points, including five terminations from Herman, to take a 17-8 lead en route to a 25-13 win in set one.

The following set was a back-and-forth effort, but Cairn used a 6-0 rally to take the lead, 14-10. The Monarchs inched within three, 16-13, before tallying five unanswered points to take an 18-16 lead. The final stretch of the second set saw four ties and two lead changes, as King's tied the match at 25 of a kill by Capwell, and a Cardinals error and ace by sophomore Joe Jones Jr. ended the set with the Monarchs on top, 27-25.

In the final set of the day for the Monarchs, they saw themselves tied at 6, but King's stormed out to a 12-4 run to take the lead, 18-10, as they would not allow York to pull within six down the stretch to secure the set win, 25-17, and the match, 3-0.

Herman led the Monarchs offense again with an all-around effort, totaling 12 kills on 19 attempts, hitting . 474, with six digs, two service aces, and a block. Also adding to the offense was Capwell with eight kills on 16 attempts, hitting .250, with four total blocks. Piontkowski added three blocks, and Harpersberger added two, while Beck dished out 21 assists in the win. It was a team effort for the defense in this match as freshmen Aziz Atiyeh, Declan Larson, Beck, Jones Jr. all added three digs a piece.

York (NY) was led by Akil Vaughn with 15 kill, while David Heyliger, Jr. added eight with four aces. Juan Rodriguez totaled 21 assists, and John Vitor recorded six digs.

As a team, the Monarchs hit .250 for the match compared to the Cardinals .068. Inside the box score, King's held the advantage in aces (8-5), blocks (6-0), and digs (24-17).

King's is back in action on Wednesday, February 12 as they host nationally-ranked Stevens in their first home Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) contest, starting at 7:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium.