SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 2 seed University of Scranton volleyball team (17-11) used a thrilling 28-26 third set victory to seal a 3-0 sweep of the No. 3 seed Elizabethtown Blue Jays (17-11) in Landmark Conference semifinal action on Thursday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

With the victory, the Royals advance to take on No. 1 seed Juniata in Saturday's Landmark championship match as the Eagles were a 3-0 winner over No. 5 seed Susquehanna on Thursday.

Scranton took seven of the first nine points and then held a 14-6 lead following a service ace and kill by sophomore Deanna Whelpley (Congers, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy). From there, the Blue Jays were unable to get any closer than eight the rest of the way and junior Erin Keaveney (Collegeville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) closed out the 25-15 win with a kill.

In the second set, the Blue Jays grabbed an early 7-3 lead, but Scranton quickly responded by taking eight of the next nine points and Keaveney delivered a kill to make it 11-8. ETown was able to cut the lead to three on a couple of different occasions before a Whelpley kill ignited a stretch where the Royals took seven of the final nine points to seal the 25-16 win with consecutive kills from senior Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield).

The two teams traded points for a majority of the third set and the Royals held a 19-15 lead when before a late Blue Jays' rally resulted in a 25-24 lead for the visitors. The Blue Jays also led 26-25, but Keaveney came through with a kill to force a 26-all tie and sophomore Maddie Forry (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) completed the sweep with a service ace.

Whelpley led a balanced attack with 15 kills, while the trio of Keaveney, Margolies and junior Sophia Hadjiyane (Huntington, N.Y./John Glenn) added 10 kills apiece. Freshman Cammi Quirk (Oakland, N.J./Ridgewood) tallied 22 assists and junior Gianna Detorie (Rumford, R.I./Bishop Feehan) recorded 20 assists and three service aces.

Forry paced the defense with 30 digs and Whelpley chipped in with nine.

A full preview of Saturday's championship game will be posted on Friday at athletics.scranton.edu.