BALTIMORE, Md. – The University of Scranton volleyball team (4-7) split a pair of matches with No. 8 Johns Hopkins (10-3) and Salisbury (7-5) on Saturday at the Johns Hopkins Invitational in Baltimore.

The Royals opened the day with a 3-1 win over the Sea Gulls and then dropped a 3-0 decision to the Blue Jays in the nightcap.

Scranton 3, Salisbury 1 (25-23, 25-14, 14-25, 25-13)

Salisbury led 19-14 in the first set before the Royals put together a rally and took eight of the next nine points as a service ace by junior Ashley Bolan (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) made it 22-20. Things were deadlocked at 23 apiece, but Scranton was then able to close things out with consecutive kills by senior Stephanie Margolies (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and junior Erin Keaveney (Collegeville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy).

In the second set, head coach Jamie Spangler's team grabbed an early 10-1 lead and never looked back en route to the 25-14 victory. A Margolies kill extended the lead to 21-6 and the Sea Gulls were unable to get any closer than 10 the rest of the way.

The Royals trailed 11-10 in the third set before six straight points from Salisbury proved to be the difference and they later took five of the final six points to force a fourth set.

In the afore-mentioned fourth set, the score was tied at 12 when a Sea Gulls' service error ignited a run of eight straight points for the Royals that included four kills by Margolies to take a 20-12 lead. Following a Salisbury point, Scranton then took the final five points and Bolan sealed the four-set victory with a service ace.

Margolies led the Royals with a match-high 18 kills and sophomore Deanna Whelpley (Congers, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) added 15, while freshman Cammi Quirk (Oakland, N.J./Ridgewood) had 22 assists and junior Gianna Detorie (Rumford, R.I./Bishop Feehan) had 14 of her own.

Bolan registered five service aces in the victory and sophomore Maddie Forry (Reading, Pa./Exeter Township) recorded seven assists, two aces and 16 digs.

Kiley McTaggart paced Salisbury with 10 kills.

Johns Hopkins 3, Scranton 0 (16-25, 23-25, 18-25)

The Royals battled the No. 8 Blue Jays throughout much of the first set and cut the lead to three on two different occasions at 18-15 and 19-16, but the hosts then recorded the final six points in the 25-16 victory.

In the second set, Scranton held a 13-9 edge following consecutive attack errors before Johns Hopkins was able to battle back with five straight points for a 19-17 lead. From there, the two teams traded runs and the Royals led 22-20, but the Blue Jays then took four of the final five points to take a two-set lead.

Things were deadlocked at 10 apiece in the third set before Johns Hopkins took the lead for good with three consecutive points and despite a valiant comeback effort by the Royals, Hopkins held on for the 25-18 win.

Whelpley recorded 11 kills in the match, while Quirk helped set up the attack with 12 assists and Detorie added 10. Forry tallied three assists, three service aces and 18 digs.

Simrin Carlsen led the Blue Jays with 20 kills and also added 17 digs.

The Royals are set to open Landmark Conference play on Friday night at Goucher with first serve slated for 7 p.m.

--ROYALS--