SCRANTON, PA (October 25, 2022) – The Susquehanna volleyball team traveled to Scranton on Tuesday night for a pivotal Landmark Conference matchup with the Royals. SU entered the evening in third place in the Landmark with Scranton just above them in second. A win for either squad would go a long way in determining a chance to host a potential Landmark Tournament semifinal matchup, and the gravity was clearly not lost on either squad with an intense match unfolding. After an intense battle saw the teams trade periods of dominance in the match, Susquehanna ultimately fell behind early in the decisive fifth set and couldn't surmount that deficit, falling 3-2 with set scores of 19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 21-25, and 11-15.
The teams were evenly matched throughout the contest, reflected in the close statistical outputs of both squads. Points, kills, assists, and digs all saw the Royals ahead by slim margins, while the teams both produced eight service aces and SU had a 6-5 advantage in blocks. They also had a better team hitting percentage at .187 to Scranton's .120. It would be the comeback fourth set for Scranton that really saw the momentum swing in their favor, as they doubled SU's kill tally 14-7 in the set and managed to knot the teams at two sets apiece, giving them a lot of energy to carry into the tiebreaker fifth set. And it would pay off, as the Royals put up the best set of either team all night in terms of attacking, racking up 11 kills and no hitting errors with a .407 hitting percentage, easily surpassing their numbers from the prior sets.
SU fell into a hole in the fifth after the teams traded points early, seeing Scranton put up a six-point run to take an 8-2 lead. The River Hawks trailed by as many as seven in the set, ultimately rallying back with a late run to bring the score closer, but with Scranton having reached 14 while SU was still at 7, the River Hawks couldn't push their final run of points past four, reaching 11 before Scranton was able to end the match with a final kill.
Rosina Esposito put in a strong statistical showing to lead SU in points, with the senior racking up a team-leading 20 kills on a .218 hitting percentage, also adding five digs, an assist, and a block. Susquehanna saw more positive production from another experienced player in fifth-year Kody Dillon, who had 11 kills on a lofty .435 hitting percentage, adding a service ace, two block assists and nine digs. First-year Jessica Sack donned the libero jersey for the key match and did not disappoint, taking on the responsibility well and putting up a massive 39 digs on the night, a career-best mark. Keira Roach led in both assists and service aces, with 33 and five, respectively.
SU will still have plenty to play for on the final day of the regular season on Saturday, October 29, as they'll host one of the conference's two quad-matches, welcoming Goucher College, Elizabethtown College, and Drew University to Selinsgrove. The River Hawks will begin the day at 11 am facing Goucher, also celebrating Senior Day prior to the match. They'll then be met with Elizabethtown at 6:30 pm in what could be a battle for the third seed in the Landmark Tournament, pending results between Catholic University and Elizabethtown tomorrow night.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
