HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The No. 3 seed University of Scranton volleyball team (25-7) battled hard for all three sets, but fell short against the top seed and No. 9 Juniata Eagles (28-1) in the Landmark Conference Championship match on Saturday night at Memorial Gymnasium in Huntingdon.

Juniata will advance to the NCAA Tournament as the Landmark's automatic qualifier, while the Royals will wait to find out if they have earned an at large-bid in the field of 64 when it is announced in a live selection show on NCAA.com on Monday afternoon beginning at 12:30 p.m.

This marked the Royals' third all-time appearance in the Landmark Championship match following appearances in 2007 and 2017.

Juniata raced out to an early lead in the first set, but Scranton rallied to within three points at 14-11, but the Eagles took control late for a 25-20 win. The second set featured more of the same for both sides as the Royals trailed 19-10 at one point before cutting the lead to 23-19 prior to consecutive points from Juniata to close out the set. With their backs against the wall in the third and final set, Scranton came charging out of the gates and led 16-6 following a kill from sophomore Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield), but Juniata rallied to tie things at 20 apiece and took the eventual 25-22 win to seal the match.

Margolies and junior Carah Vitkus (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had nine kills apiece to pace the Royals in the match, while fellow junior Caileigh Cox (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) added 23 assists and 14 digs on the night. Margolies added 14 digs of her own and senior Molly Dunfee (King of Prussia, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) had a team-high 15.

Juniata was led by 16 kills from Victoria Taylor and 42 assists from Olivia Foley.

--ROYALS--