DALLAS, Pa. – The University of Scranton volleyball team (14-9, 8-1 Landmark) cruised to a 3-0 win over the Misericordia Cougars (14-14, 4-2 MAC Freedom) in a non-conference match on Wednesday night at the Anderson Sports Center in Dallas.

Scranton 3, Misericordia 0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-17)

The Royals tallied nine of the first 12 points in the first set and took an early 9-3 lead following a pair of Cougars' set errors. From there, the Cougars battled back to cut the lead to 20-19 before Scranton took five of the final seven points including a pair of kills by junior Erin Keaveney (Collegeville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) to close out the 25-21 victory.

Each side traded points for a majority of the second set and the Royals led 17-15 before notching five straight points en route to the 25-19 victory. Keaveney once again added a pair of kills down the stretch to help seal the win.

Misericordia held a 9-7 edge early in the third set when a kill by sophomore Gwen Koester (Merrick, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) ignited a stretch where the visitors registered 11 of the next 12 points as fellow sophomores Maddie Forry (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) and Deanna Whelpley (Congers, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) posted two service aces apiece. Forry later closed out the 25-17 victory with her fifth service ace of the night.

Keaveney led the Royals' attack with nine kills, while Whelpley added eight and junior Sophia Hadjiyane (Huntington, N.Y./John Glenn) had six. Junior Gianna Detorie (Rumford, R.I./Bishop Feehan) and freshman Cammi Quirk (Oakland, N.J./Ridgewood) recorded 12 assists apiece.

Forry tallied 16 digs in the victory to go along with her five service aces and Detorie had seven digs of her own.

The Royals are back in action on Saturday at Ithaca as they will take on Clarkson at 1 p.m. and the host No. 24 Bombers at 3:30 p.m.

--ROYALS--