PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The University of Scranton volleyball team (4-2) split a pair of matches against Carnegie Mellon (3-3) and Westminster (Pa.) (4-3) on Saturday at Wiegand Gym on the campus of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
The Royals dropped a 3-1 decision to the Tartans before closing out the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of the Titans.
Carnegie Mellon 3, Scranton 1 (25-21, 20-25, 18-25, 21-25)
Scranton held a 17-13 lead in the first set following consecutive kills from junior Deanna Whelpley (Congers, N.Y./Immaculate Heart Academy) and freshman Danielle Kramer (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) and then held a 22-17 advantage. From there, Carnegie Mellon was able to battle back and cut the deficit to 23-21 before the Royals took the final two points to notch the 25-21 victory.
The Tartans led 14-9 in the second set and despite several comeback efforts from the Royals that saw them draw as close as two at 22-20, CMU then took the final three points in the 25-20 win which evened the match at one set apiece.
In the third set, Carnegie Mellon held a 17-9 lead before Scranton mounted a comeback attempt and consecutive attacking errors trimmed the deficit to three at 18-15. The hosts then took four of the next five points and eventually sealed a 25-18 victory.
Head coach Jamie Spangler's team held leads of 11-7 and 13-11 in the fourth set before Carnegie Mellon recorded nine out of 10 points which made it a 20-14 score. The Royals fought back within a pair at 23-21, but the Tartans were able to close out the match.
Whelpley led the attack with a career-high 19 kills and seniors Erin Keaveney (Collegeville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) and Sophia Hadjiyane (Huntington, N.Y./John Glenn) added eight apiece. Sophomore Cammi Quirk (Oakland, N.J./Ridgewood) orchestrated things for the Royals with 24 assists and junior Camryn Hoffman (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) had a team-high 15 digs.
Katherine Jackson and Elizabeth Schlemmer had 14 kills apiece to lead Carnegie Mellon.
Scranton 3, Westminster (Pa.) 0 (25-12, 25-19, 26-24)
Scranton raced out to a 12-3 lead in the first set following a kill from Keaveney and cruised to a 25-12 victory as the Titans never got closer than six the rest of the way.
In the second set, things were even at 12 apiece before the Royals took four of the next five points to take a 16-13 lead at the time. Westminster (Pa.) cut the deficit back to one at 17-16, but Kramer's kill started a five-point run for Scranton who led 22-16 and eventually closed out a 25-19 victory.
The Titans held a 14-7 lead in the third set when Scranton started a rally and consecutive kills by Kramer sliced the deficit to 17-16. Later in the set, the Royals held a 24-22 lead and Westminster then took the next two points to even things at 24 but kills from Kramer and Whelpley closed out the three-set sweep.
Whelpley paced Scranton with 14 kills and Hadjiyane had 12, while Keaveney and Kramer tallied nine apiece. Quirk helped set up the attack with 22 kills and senior Gianna Detorie (Rumford, R.I./Bishop Feehan) had 18.
Defensively, Hoffman had 15 digs to lead the way.
The Royals are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 14 at NYU with matches against Colby (3 p.m.) and the host Violets (5:30 p.m.).
--ROYALS--
