SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton volleyball team (9-7, 4-0 Landmark) notched a fifth straight victory and remained unbeaten in conference play with a 3-0 victory over the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (7-8, 1-3 Landmark) on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.

Scranton 3, Elizabethtown 0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-19)

Elizabethtown held an early 12-8 lead in the first set, but the Royals then responded with eight straight points including a pair of kills by sophomore Deanna Whelpley (Congers, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) for a 16-12 lead. From there, the Blue Jays battled back to hold a slight 19-18 advantage before Scranton took seven of the final nine points and senior Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) closed things out with a kill in the 25-21 victory.

In the second set, the Royals took nine of the first 11 points to take control of the set in the early going and later registered nine straight points capped off by an ETown set error to make it 18-3. The Blue Jays were unable to get any closer than 10 the rest of the way and junior Erin Keaveney (Collegeville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) closed things out with a kill in the 25-14 win.

The two teams traded points for much of the third set and ETown led 13-12 before head coach Jamie Spangler's team tallied six of the next seven points that gave the Royals an 18-14 lead. ETown was able to respond and drew within one at 18-17, but the Royals took five of the final six points and Whelpley came through with consecutive kills to complete the sweep.

Whelpley led Scranton with 13 kills in the victory and Margolies came through with 12, while freshman Cammi Quirk (Oakland, N.J./Ridgewood) helped set up the attack with 20 assists and junior Gianna Detorie (Rumford, R.I./Bishop Feehan) had 17.

Sophomore Maddie Forry (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) led the way defensively with 20 digs and fellow sophomore Camryn Hoffman (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) added 11 of her own.

Katie Scaggs paced the Blue Jays with 12 kills in the setback.

The Royals will host Drew in a Landmark Conference clash on Tuesday night at the John Long Center with first serve slated for 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--