Box Score

SCRANTON - Junior Caileigh Cox (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) became the 11th student-athlete in program history to reach the 1,000 career assist mark during the match, but it wasn't enough, as visiting Elizabethtown collected a key 3-1 victory (18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 21-25) over The University of Scranton volleyball team in Landmark Conference play on Wednesday night in the John Long Center.

With the defeat (the first of the year for the Royals at home), Scranton dropped to 21-5 overall and 3-1 in the Landmark. Elizabethtown, meanwhile, improved to 17-6 with the win and 4-0 in the Landmark.

To start, ETown came out and took control early in the first set, rolling to a seven-point victory to go up, 1-0, in the match.

But, Scranton came back strong in the second set, as the Royals held off a late ETown rally to take a two-point victory, as senior Eryn Boken (South Pasadena Calif./Westridge School for Girls) finished off the set with a kill with Scranton leading, 24-23.

However, in the final two sets of the match, ETown rode big early leads to victories by the same score twice (25-21), as they seemed to have an answer every time the Royals tried to make a comeback in each set. Scranton was also hampered by a slow night on the attack in the loss, as the Royals hit .083 on the evening and had 34 total attacking errors (compared to just 19 for ETown).

Overall for the Royals, sophomore Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) led the attack with 13 kills, while Boken and junior Carah Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had 12 kills, apiece. On defense, senior Molly Dunfee (King of Prussia, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) had 16 digs, while Cox ended her historic night with 37 assists and 13 digs.

Elizabethtown was led in the victory by Byranna Miller, who had 13 kills.

The match was also the volleyball program's "Mental Health Awareness Game" in which fans wore white and several Royals teams showed support for both the volleyball team and the Royals' mental health awareness initiatives.

The University of Scranton volleyball team returns to action on Saturday, as they host the final two home matches of the 2021 regular season in the Long Center. First, at noon, the Royals take on Wilkes, followed by a 4 PM match against New Jersey City. The program will also honor its senior class during the day, as well.

--ROYALS--