SCRANTON, PA-- Cairn took a break from conference play as they went on the road to face off verses the the Pacers of Marywood University. The Pacers came out on top 3-2 in a five-set face off.

The first set started out with Cairn (14-4, 5-1 United East) taking a short and small 2-1 lead as freshman opposite Bella Manthe (Manila, Philippines / Faith Academy) gets an early ace. It was a back and forth battle as neither team could keep the momentum, until it was 6-5, in favor of Cairn, that Marywood (19-1, 1-0 Atlantic East) took force and went on a 5 point run to gain a 9-6 lead. After a Pacers error, freshman outside hitter Marah Lehman (Chambersburg, PA / Chambersburg) got an ace to close the gap to 9-8. After a back and forth battle where neither team establish clear momentum, the score tied up 16-16 after a kill by Lehman. Marywood took a quick and short 21-20 lead before Cairn took off and called the set with a score of  25-21 after Highlanders, junior middle blocker Georgianna Thorpe (Southampton, PA William Tennent) and junior setter Anna Dow (Syracuse, NY Faith Heritage School), teamed up to get a block to end the set.

Set number two started heavily in the Pacers favor with a six point run after Cairn scored the first point. Cairn tried to recover but just couldn't close the gap as Marywood held the steady lead 12-7. Manthe and Thorpe both got a kill to narrow the score to 12-9, but the Pacers took their space right back as they made it 15-9. Then Cairn and Marywood exchange the next 5 points as the score became 17-12 thanks to a kill by Lehman and assisted by Dow. Marywood looked to claim the set as they went on a four point run to make it 21-12. The Highlanders made one last push to narrow the gap to 21-16, but the Pacers claimed the set with a score of 25-18.

The third set was closely knit as both teams sought to gain an advantage, exchanging points as the score remained within 2 points until Cairn got a 10-7 lead after an ace by sophomore middle blocker Maddie Shackelford (Warrington, PA / Plumstead Christian School). The Pacers sought to take a lead, narrowing the gap to 13-12, but Cairn wouldn't let up as Lehman and Thorpe got kill after kill to extend their lead to 22-19. Dow put on a masterpeice of a proformance in assisting her teammates, but Marywood wouldn't give up, close the gap to withing two and pushing the set longer past 25 points. The teams exchanged leads back and forth every two points, till Cairn got the three point run to the set 30-28 thanks to a kill by junior outside hitter Bridget Dahn (Smithsburg, MD / Heritage Academy) and Thorpe, with the final point being a forced error.

The fourth set started off with Thorpe getting the first kill to give Cairn the 1-0 lead, but it didn't last long as Marywood bounced back  and took a 9-4 lead. With both teams exchanging points in groups of two back to back, the score quickly became 11-8 in favor of the Pacers before they stormed away to make their lead 15-8. As Lehman and Manthe sought to lead their team to rally back with a few kills, it ultimately was enough as Marywood came closer to claiming the set with a 18-13 lead. Then going on a 6-2 run, Marywood was within 1 of claiming the set. A dominating proformance from the Pacers gave them the forth set with a 25-15 win, sending this game to a fifth set.

The fifth set was tense as both teams could see victory and neither was willing to give it up, but Lehman lead her team on a run to get a 8-5 lead. Marywood was able to force an ace and two errors to tie the game up 8-8. The teams kept the fans on the edge of their sets as they exchanged points. With Dahn and Manthe leading the Highlanders to take a 13-11 lead, the Highlanders could see victory, but the Pacers applied the pressure to force two errors and later getting an ace and kill to take the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.

Lehman led the Highlanders in kills with 16, ans Manthe got 4 aces to top that category. Thorphe got 3 blocks and Dow had 44 assists. Sophomore libero Liliana Magazzu (Reading, PA / Exeter Township) topped the team on digs with a performance of 17.

The Highlanders get back to conference play as they will host Penn State Harrisburg on Saturday at 1pm in Langhorne, Pa.