New Jersey City, NJ - Cairn University men's volleyball stopped a five game slide on Wednesday night with a 3-1 win at New Jersey City University. The Highlanders narrowly lost the first set 23-25 but came back to win the next three sets 25-20, 25-23, and 25-20. 

Josiah Buss led the team in kills with 13 and a .300 hitting percentage. Andy Willits followed him with 10 kills on 27 attempts. Both Willits and Buss had four service aces to help the team to 13 aces in the match. 

Also having a good match for the Highlanders was David Dager with eight kills; his highest total of 2015. Alex Lower collected 34 assists and had three block assists. Leading the way in blocks for Cairn was Michael Emond with five block assists. 

Ryan Garven led the team in digs with seven; he was followed by Matthew Rhodes with six.

Cairn started out strong in the first set and went up 15-9 before the Gothic Knights made a run later in the set. New Jersey City came back from an 18-14 deficit and took the lead at 20-19. Cairn tied the match at 20-20 and again at 23-23 but a service error followed by an ace by New Jersey City gave the first set to the Gothic Knights. 

The second set was played very closely but New Jersey City held the lead for the majority of the set. The Gothic Knights led all the way to 20-18 when Daque Wilox hit a serve error. That handed the ball over to Andy Willits to serve, which directly led to a 7-0 run behind three of his aces for the 25-20 win. 

The Highlanders overcame an 11-3 deficit in set number three in order to get the win. In similar fashion to the previous set, a Gothic Knight hit a serve error but still held the lead at 20-17. Micah Godshall then stepped up to the service line for a 6-0 run including two aces. That gave Cairn the lead 23-20 and they held off New Jersey City for the 25-23 win. 

Starting out the fourth set for Cairn was Willits to continue his strong service game, which gave the Highlanders a 6-1 lead early on. The Gothic Knights got as close at two points away from tying the game throughout the rest of the set and the Highlanders won 25-20. Cairn was helped by a .000 hitting percentage by New Jersey City in the fourth set. 

The win was much needed for Cairn to stop the five game losing streak and they handed the Gothic Knights their fourth loss of the season. The Highlanders improved to 8-10 on the season with the win, while New Jersey City fell to 6-4 overall. Cairn will next host a tri-match this Saturday against SUNY-New Paltz and Brooklyn College starting at 11 a.m.