Stephanie Klug	Brittany Cafiero

Box score vs. Juniata
Box score vs. Susquehanna

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The University of Scranton women's volleyball team suffered a pair of Landmark Conference losses on Saturday, falling to Juniata, 3-0, and Susquehanna, 3-0, dropping the Royals to the No. 3 seed in the upcoming conference playoffs.

The Royals (20-9, 6-2 Landmark) will take on second-seeded Susquehanna in a conference semifinal on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in Selinsgrove, Pa.

No. 1 Juniata 3, Scranton 0 (23-25, 22-25, 19-25)

In a battle of the lone unbeaten teams in Landmark Conference play, the Royals gave the host and top-ranked Eagles all they could handle in the three-set defeat.

In the first set, the lead swung back and forth between the teams, before Scranton took control in the middle of the game, opening up an 18-15 lead. The Royals continued to ride to momentum into the final moments of the match, and held a 23-19 lead late.

But, Juniata came back after a time-out with a vengeance and rallied off six straight points to end the set, taking a two-point victory over the Royals in the process.

The second set was more of the same for both teams, as once again, Scranton opened up an early lead, and fought all the way until the final points of the game. But, once again, Juniata was able to rally, scoring the final three points of action to go up 2-0 in the match.

The third set saw Scranton once again open an early lead on Juniata, going up 16-11 mid-way through. Yet again, however, Juniata went on a rally to put away the Royals, as the Eagles ended the match with a 14-3 run to win in straight sets.

Overall, Scranton was led in the hard-fought loss on the attack by senior Stephanie Klug (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood), who had nine kills. Many of the attacks in the match were set up by senior Brittany Cafiero (Merrick, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial), who had 23 assists, while sophomore Morgan Rentzheimer (Laurys Station, Pa./Parkland) led the defense with 12 digs in the defeat.

Susquehanna 3, Scranton 0 (17-25, 20-25, 13-25)

Susquehanna (21-8, 6-1 Landmark) pulled away in the middle of the first set by going on an 11-2 run to take an 18-8 lead. The second set was an even battle with both teams holding narrow leads until the Crusaders turned a 20-19 lead into a victory by scoring five of the final six points.

In the final set, Susquehanna raced out to a 15-4 lead and didn't look back.

Overall, the Royals received a team-high nine kills from freshman outside hitter Kristin Kirwan (Park Ridge, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy), six kills and nine digs from senior outside hitter Lizzy Zimmermann (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) and seven kills and three digs from Klug.

Cafiero finished the match with 22 assists, giving her 45 on the day. She now has 1,875 career assists, sixth-most in program history.

Scranton will host Penn State-Berks on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Long Center.

--ROYALS--