SCRANTON, Pa. -- Elizabethtown ventured into Landmark Conference play for the first time this season on Saturday at Scranton. The Blue Jays picked up a split after dropping a 3-0 decision to the host Royals in their early match and ending the day with a 3-1 victory over Goucher.
 
SCRANTON 3, ELIZABETHTOWN 0
25-16, 25-17, 28-26
 
Scranton got off to a fast start en route to a 3-0 sweep of the Blue Jays. The Royals jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first set on the strength of three aces, two kills and two blocks. E-town (9-11, 0-1 Landmark) was forced to play catch-up and got back within four, 16-12, on a Sarah Schneider kill, before Scranton used another 7-1 run to take a 23-13 lead.
 
Shelly Yohe recorded a pair of kills and Marisa Krinock had an ace as the Jays came out with a renewed effort in the second, but the Royals (11-10, 1-0) benefitted from two five-point runs and two four-point runs in claiming a 2-0 lead, 25-17.
 
Elizabethtown did everything it could to prolong the match, amassing 11 kills, three blocks and two aces in the third. The Royals' Catherine Manning stepped up with the match on the line, however, combining with Kristin Kirwan on a block and putting down a kill from Kindler Norman's set to secure the clinching point, 28-26.
 
Sarah Schneider was responsible for nearly half of E-town's 29 kills in the match, finishing with a team-high 13. Mackenzie Garner had five kills and Elle Shatto four.
 
Aiyana Tietze-Di Toro collected 13 digs, while the setting tandem of Rileigh Hudock (11) and Yohe (10) combined for 21 assists.
 
Kirwan registered a double-double of 13 kills and 13 assists for Scranton. Megan Monastra had 13 digs and four aces, Norman totaled 36 assists and Boken had eight kills and four aces.
 
ELIZABETHTOWN 3, GOUCHER 1
21-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-15
 
Mackenzie Garner's team-high 15 kills and Sarah Schneider's 12-dig, 11-kill double-double paved the way for the Blue Jays' first Landmark win of the season.
 
Things didn't start the way E-town hoped, as Goucher hit .255 with 18 kills to emerge with a 25-21 first set victory. It was all Blue Jays (10-11, 1-1 Landmark) the rest of the way.
 
Elizabethtown won the second set 25-18 and went on to capture the third and fourth by double digits.
 
Garner bounced back from an unusually quiet match against Scranton by attacking at a .560 rate (15 kills-1 error-25 attempts) and compiling five blocks (two solos, three assists). Schneider also hit efficiently with a .323 percentage (11-1-31). Elle Shatto put up 12 digs, nine kills and two aces, and Shelly Yohe had nine digs to go with six kills.
 
Despite the loss, Goucher (7-9, 0-1) battled the Jays to the end. The Gophers only trailed by four in kills (48-44) and digs (64-64). Greta Cross matched Garner for the match-high in kills with 15 and Kaya Melchor also reached double figures with 11. Cross completed a double-double with 12 digs, while teammate Tes DeJaeger produced one of her own with 42 assists and 16 digs.
 
UP NEXT
Elizabethtown returns to Thompson Gymnasium for a non-conference match against Penn State Harrisburg on Wednesday at 7 p.m.