Gophers Fall in Conference Opener to Royals

TOWSON, Md. - After dropping the first set, the University of Scranton rallied for a 3-1 Landmark Conference women's volleyball victory over Goucher College Friday evening at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center.  Set scores were 24-26, 25-18, 25-16, 25-13.

• After three ties in the early going, Scranton (5-7, 1-0 Landmark) pulled out to a 16-9 lead.
• Goucher (2-12, 0-1) countered with a 7-2 spurt to pull within two, 18-16, on an Amel Lightfoot kill.
• After a Royal kill, the Gophers rattled off seven straight points with Nicole Kovach serving, with a Kailee Turner kill making it 23-19 in favor of the hosts.
• An Olivia DeBiasio kill made it 24-20 before Scranton scored four in a row to tie the set 24-24.
• A Scranton service error and an attack error closed out the set.

• Three straight Goucher points capped by an Imani Ward kill pulled the Gophers within 11-9.
• Scranton scored five in a row to build a 16-9 lead.
• After trailing by as many as nine, Goucher got the lead back down to six, 23-17, following a service error.
• A Stephanie Margolies kill evened the match 1-1.

• The Royals scored the first three points of the set and jumped out to a 10-2 lead.
• After Scranton pushed out to a 19-8 lead, a block by Lightfoot and Turner capped a three-point spurt and made it 19-11.
• Goucher pulled within six, 22-16, on a Lightfoot ace before the Royals scored the final three points of the set.

• Goucher trailed 4-3 when the Royals scored seven straight points to build an 11-3 lead.
• Scranton led by as many as 13 points in the final set and closed things out on a Shannon Smith kill.

• Turner led the Gophers with 10 kills, while Ward finished with nine.
• Athena Savick paced four players with double-digit digs with 15.
• Kovach racked up 13 digs, crossing the 900-dig mark for her career, while Turner and Riley Kocell added 12 and 10, respectively.
• Madison Amaya had 13 assists, while Kocell notched 12.
• Scranton hit .225 as a team while the Gophers hit .059 for the match.

• Goucher continues Landmark Conference play on Saturday, hosting Drew in a 2 pm match at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center.