BALTIMORE, MD – The visiting Scranton volleyball team rallied from a pair of eight-point deficits in the fourth set and knocked off host Johns Hopkins, 3-1, in non-conference action in Goldfarb Gym Friday night.  The Royals improve to 9-7 with the win, while the Blue Jays slip to 6-6 with the loss.
 
Down two sets to one, the Blue Jays jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the fourth set and were still up eight at 16-8 after an Alice Yu service ace, but Scranton answered with a 13-3 run to grab a 22-19 lead.  The last seven of those points came off the serve of Stephanie Margolies with the run including a pair of Margolies services aces and three attacking errors for the Blue Jays.
 
Johns Hopkins got back to within one at 22-21 and 23-22, but the Royals closed it out on a pair of Blue Jay attacking errors to grab the victory.
 
Scranton grabbed a 25-21 set-one victory before the Blue Jays answered by taking set two, 25-20.  A tight first set saw eight ties and five lead changes before Scranton scored six of the final eight points, while the Blue Jays grabbed the lead early in set two, led by as many as five, held off a Royal rally and claimed the five-point set win.
 
Set three mirrored set one as there with seven ties and four lead changes before Scranton prevailed 25-22.  The Blue Jays had a pair of five-points leads in the first half of the set, but Scranton forced ties at 15, 16, 19 and 20 before scoring five of the last seven points to set up its four-set victory.  Late Kills from Carah Vitkus, Abby Rzucidlo and Margolies sealed set three for Scranton.
 
Margolies (14 kills), Sophia Hadjiyane (13) and Vitkus (10) all hit double figures in kills for the Royals, who also got a strong team defensive effort with 64 digs and nine blocks.
 
Simone Adam once again led the Blue Jays as she collected a match-high 17 kills, while Roxy Karrer (9) and Yu (7) combined for 16 kills in the loss.  Helena Swaak had 23 assists and added 10 digs and Evelyn Batista added 12 digs for the Blue Jays.
 
What's Next
Johns Hopkins will return to the court quickly as the Blue Jays will host a tri-match on Saturday, October 1.  Johns Hopkins will welcome Haverford and York (PA) to Goldfarb Gym with action starting at 12 pm when the Blue Jays and Fords meet; Haverford will then play York before the Blue Jays and Spartans close the day with a non-conference match.