BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Women's volleyball put an end to its nine-match losing streak in hair-raising fashion Saturday, erasing a two-set deficit to beat Merchant Marine 3-2 in a Landmark Conference crossover at Moravian. Earlier in the day, Scranton swept the Blue Jays, 3-0.
Elizabethtown got a combined 30 kills from
Kelci Scannapieco (18) and
Allie Traynor (12) to complete its comeback win over Merchant Marine (13-4, 1-3 Landmark). The Blue Jays dropped close sets in the first and second 25-22 and 25-21, before winning the third 25-21 and the fourth 25-20.
Three straight errors from the Mariners put the Jays (8-14, 1-4 Landmark) ahead 5-2 in the fifth and deciding set. USMMA would tie the set at six, but another quick 3-0 run from the blue and gray opened up a 10-7 advantage.
Karley Ice registered a kill and
Allie Traynor a service ace in the spurt.
Traynor and Scannapieco hit for kills on consecutive points to seal the set, 15-12, and the match for Elizabethtown.
Scannapieco hit .343 on 35 attempts and also blocked six USMMA attacks defensively.
Megan McNaul's six kills,
Taylor Beck's five and Ice's four helped the Blue Jays break their slide.
McNaul also led E-town with 17 digs, while
Jen Cook had 16 and Traynor 11 for a double-double.
Steph High had 21 assists and
Brynne Kirsch 17.
Cassandra Palma had 20 kills and 14 digs for Merchant Marine, which also got 10 kills from Jennifer Perkins.
Scranton (17-7, 4-0 Landmark) remained unbeaten in conference play earlier in the day when it took advantage of a mistake-prone Blue Jay side to sweep 25-18, 25-18, 25-19.
Elizabethtown could not overcome 28 attacking errors against just 20 kills, as it hit -.082 in the loss. Traynor's six kills were tops on the team, with Scannapieco chipping in five.
Julia Crilly led the Royals with 11 kills and Lizzy Zimmermann had nine. Brittany Cafiero assisted on 26 of Scranton's 36 kills in the match.
Following Saturday's crossover, the Blue Jays boarded a plane for Florida. They'll compete in a fall break match at Florida College Monday evening and play an exhibition match against Pasco-Hernando Community College Tuesday afternoon.
