BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The University of Scranton volleyball team (24-5, 4-1 Landmark) took the final two sets en route to a 3-2 comeback victory over the Moravian Greyhounds (11-14, 0-5 Landmark) in Landmark Conference action on Wednesday night at Johnston Hall in Bethlehem.

With two regular season matches remaining for each team, there are four teams separated by one game at the top of the Landmark Conference standings as Elizabethtown and Juniata are both 5-0 in league play, while Scranton and Susquehanna are both 4-1.

The seeding for next week's Landmark Conference Tournament will be determined in Saturday's quad match at Elizabethtown featuring the top four teams in the conference.

After dropping the first set to the Greyhounds, the Royals rallied for a 25-20 win in the second set as a kill from senior Trinity Manning (Point Lookout, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) ignited a brief 5-0 run to close out the set. Moravian responded once again with a 25-21 victory in the third set, but this was where Scranton would take control of the match en route to the five set victory.

Head coach Jamie Spangler's squad took 13 of the first 16 points in the fourth set and Moravian never got any closer than nine in a dominant 25-11 win. In the decisive fifth set, Scranton led 9-5 following a kill from sophomore Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield), but the Greyhounds rallied to cut the lead to 10-8 before fellow sophomore Grace Kane (Cranford, N.J./Union Catholic) slammed home a kill of her own to set the tone for the eventual 15-9 victory.

Margolies led the way for the Royals with a match-high 17 kills, while senior Eryn Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Westridge School for Girls) added 13 of her own in the five set thriller. Elsewhere for the Royals, Kane added nine kills to go along with eight from junior Carah Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and seven from Manning.

Junior Caileigh Cox (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) set up the attack all match long for Scranton with a season-high 52 assists, a total that is also the second most of her career. Cox's career-high in assists is 57, which came versus Hunter on Oct. 19, 2019.

The Randolph, N.J., native now has 952 assists on the season, a total that leads the Landmark Conference and ranks in the top 15 nationally.

Margolies also contributed defensively with 25 digs and senior Molly Dunfee (King of Prussia, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) notched a match-high 28 digs for the Royals.  

Scranton will close out the regular season with matches against No. 9 Juniata (1:30 p.m.) and Susquehanna (4 p.m.) on Saturday at Elizabethtown.

--ROYALS--