Arlington, VA - The Cairn men's volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20) against the No. 15 Marymount Saints on Saturday afternoon. Cairn dropped the first two sets, but rallied to take the third set 25-21 before dropping the fourth set 25-20.
 
Micah Godshall and Andy Willits led the Highlanders offensively with 15 kills each in the match. Matthew Gump dished out a match-high 36 assists and Ryan Ludvik and Willits collected nine digs each.
 
In the opening set, the Saints won the first point of the contest before Cairn won back-to-back points off of Marymount errors to take a 2-1 lead. Those two points were the only consecutive points the Highlanders would claim in the first set as Marymount steadily grew their lead over the course of the set en route to the 25-15 set victory. Andy Willits led the Highlanders in the set with three kills in the opening game.
 
The start of the second set belonged to the Saints. Marymount opened the second game with a 7-1 run, but the Highlanders hung in there and pulled within two at 10-8 after a kill from Micah Godshall and an error by Marymount. Cairn still trailed by two at 16-14, until the Saints went on a 9-5 run to end the set and take a 2-0 lead after a 25-19 victory in the second set.
 
Propelled by a strong start to the third set, the Highlanders took their first set of the afternoon by a 25-21 final. Cairn jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after kills from Godshall and Willits and three errors from the Saints. Cairn pushed their lead up to 12-5 after a 4-0 run. Marymount fought back, but could not pull within three as the Highlanders took the set 25-21. On the set Cairn swung at a .333 clip with 14 kills and just four errors.
 
As they did in the first two sets, the Saints got off to a strong start in the fourth set. Marymount took a 7-2 lead and held control the rest of the way to earn the 25-20 victory in the set. Cairn clawed within two points on multiple occasions, but the Saints were able to fight off their advances and pick up the 3-1 victory in the match.
 
The loss drops the Highlanders to 3-17 on the season and 0-6 in the CVC. Cairn will next take the court on Saturday when they host Stevens Institute of Technology and Arcadia University for a tri-match in the Mason Activity Center. Cairn plays Stevens at 11:00 a.m. and Arcadia at 3:00 p.m.