Box Score

SCRANTON - Senior Eryn Boken (South Pasadena, Calif./Westridge School For Girls) once again led the attack with a career-high 15 kills, while junior Carah Vitkus(Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) finished with 14 kills, as The University of Scranton volleyball team came all the way back from a 2-0 deficit on Wednesday night vs. Ithaca, taking a 3-2 thriller in the John Long Center (23-25, 24-26, 25-14, 25-17, 15-12).

With the win, the Royals remained unbeaten at 5-0 and collected their first win ever over Ithaca in program history (Scranton entered the game with an 0-10 record all-time vs. the Bombers). Ithaca fell to 1-4 overall with the defeat.

To start, Ithaca came out and took it to Scranton in the first two sets, taking a 2-0 lead after a hard fought 26-24 win in the second set. In that game, Ithaca came back from a deficit, forced a tiebreak at 24-all, then took the final two points to go up, 2-0, on the Royals.

But, in the third set, momentum in the match started to swing toward Scranton.

First, they rolled to an 11-point win in the third set, then in the fourth set, pulled away late to roll to an eight point win to send the match to a decisive fifth set.

There, the Royals immediately came out and took it to the Bombers, opening an early 12-7 lead. But, Ithaca came back to make things very interesting late, slicing the Royals lead all the way down to 13-11 and with serve.

Here, the play of the match was made, as sophomore Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) slammed down a kill to put the Royals on match point at 14-11. Following an Ithaca point, Vitkus finished off Ithaca for the night with a kill, giving Scranton their first win in five sets on the 2021 season in the process.

Overall, Boken led the Royals attack with her 15-kill performance, a career and game high for the senior. Hitting an outstanding .636 in the game, Boken also had four service aces and four blocks up front for Scranton, as well (two solo blocks).

Elsewhere, Vitkus put together her best game of the young season with her 14-kill effort. Margolies rounded out the double-digit kill performances on the night for the Royals with 11, as she also finished with a team-high 14 digs to record her fourth double-double in five games.

Meanwhile, senior Molly Dunfee (King of Prussia, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) finished with 10 digs and junior Caileigh Cox (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) ended with 43 assists, a career-high five service aces and nine digs.

The University of Scranton volleyball team returns to action on Friday, as they open the Ford Invitational at Haverford with a match against Eastern (Pa.). First serve is set for 7 PM.

--ROYALS--