Langhorne, PA - Cairn University moves to the next stage of the Colonial States Athletic Conference playoffs after defeating Marywood University.

Box Score

The Highlanders survived an early scare to come away with a 3-1 victory and move into the CSAC semi-finals. The Pacers came out the more intense team in the opening set as Marywood would take an early lead that led to a 25-19 win. In response, the Highlanders used a multi-pronged attack that the Pacers had no answer for.

As so often has happened throughout 2012, Brigid Shehan led the way with 14 kills in helping Cairn to the 3-1 win. Cairn raced out to a 25-15 second set win, before building that into a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 third set triumph. Marywood proved resilient and wouldn't go without a fight. The Highlanders grabbed the lead in the fourth set early on and led throughout, but the Pacers clung on at the back end of things, but in the end the Highlanders edged out a 25-20 set win and moving on to the next round of the CSAC playoffs.

The Highlanders enjoyed strong offensive output from Abbie Keating, Rachel Johnson, and Emily Mayer. Keating and Johnson each unleashed 10 kills while Mayer is credited with 9. Erin Greenwood played point for the Highlanders, setting up 38 kills.

Defensively, Ashleigh Colomina came up with 20 digs, assisted by Shehan who also had 19 digs.

For Marywood, Ashley Zalewski led the Pacers with 10 kills while Kelly Chadwick logged 26 assists.

Cairn will now go head-to-head with the CSAC's #1 seed, Neumann University, on Saturday at 2pm.