Lincoln, IL - Coming into the tournament as the #5 seed, Cairn University squared off with #4 Manhattan Christian and #1 Kentucky Christian on Thursday, the opening day of the 2013 NCCAA Women's Volleyball National Tournament.

In their first match, the Highlanders were swept by Manahattan Christian 3-0. The loss put a huge dent in Cairn's plans to make it to the final day of the tournament, with the #1 seed Kentucky Christian still to play.

Stats for the first match will posted when they are available.

It was a rollercoaster of a match between Cairn and Kentucky Christian, following the Parade of Champions. The Highlanders shocked top-seeded Kentucky in the opening set, cruising to a 25-12 win, and committing only one attack error in the opening stanza. The second set saw two effective offenses going to work, as the two teams combined for 24 kills and only 7 errors, but it was Kentucky that came out on top, knotting the score at 1-1 with a 25-20 second set win.

Having dominated Kentucky in the opening set and playing toe-to-toe with them in the second set, the third set was a letdown for coach Ben Fuller and the Highlanders as they slumped to 25-9 defeat.

Credit to the women, they didn't hang their heads after such a lopside defeat, and responded with forcing a fifth set after tying the score at 2-2. In the fourth, Cairn blasted 14 team kills en route to a 25-21 set win.

A fifth set leaves little room for errors or falling behind and it proved costly as Kentucky survived the scare from Cairn with a 15-11 score and propelling them to a 3-2 win.

On Friday, Cairn will face #8 Ozark and #9 Providence in the final day of goup play.

The tournament consists of two groups of five teams. The top two teams advance from each group to the final round.

A bright spot during the day was Erin Greenwood reaching 3,000 assists for her career. The senior tallied 39 assists in the loss to Kentucky.