ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The No. 3 seed University of Scranton volleyball team (25-6) rallied after dropping the first set and advanced to Saturday's Landmark Conference Championship with a 3-1 win over the No. 2 seed Elizabethtown Blue Jays (21-8) in semifinal action on Wednesday night at Thompson Gymnasium in Elizabethtown.

Scranton advances to face top seeded and No. 9 Juniata in Saturday's championship match that will get underway in Huntingdon at 7 p.m. The Eagles swept Susquehanna in straight sets in Wednesday's other semifinal matchup.

This marks the third appearance for the Royals in the Landmark title match as they also took on Juniata in 2007 and 2017.

Following a 25-16 victory by ETown in the first set, the Royals raced out to an 8-3 lead in the second set, but a Blue Jays rally cut the lead to 12-11 at one point. This is where a kill from junior Carah Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) marked the first of five straight points en route to an eventual 25-19 victory for the Royals that evened the match at one apiece. It was more of the same in the third set as things were knotted at 13 apiece before the Royals took control late and a pair of late kills from senior Eryn Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Westridge School for Girls) led to the 25-21 set victory. Scranton led 11-9 in the fourth set before taking four straight points and 14 of the final 17 for a 25-12 win and a four set victory.

Vitkus paced the Royals with 14 kills in the win, her second highest total of the season following a 16-kill outing against Haverford on Sept. 11. Elsewhere, Boken and sophomore Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) recorded eight kills apiece, while junior Caileigh Cox (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) set up the attack all match long with 36 assists on the evening.

Defensively, senior Molly Dunfee (King of Prussia, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) recorded 21 digs for the Royals as Cox and junior Emma Profitlich (East Rockaway, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) also added 11 apiece.

Bryanna Miller paced ETown with 17 kills in the losing effort.

The Royals' victory on Wednesday avenged a 3-1 Blue Jays win in the John Long Center back on Oct. 20. A full preview of Saturday's championship match will be posted at athletics.scranton.edu on Friday.

--ROYALS--