SCRANTON, Pa. – The Wesleyan volleyball team leaned on a balanced attack as contributions came from all over the lineup in a four-set win (25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18) over Scranton on the road on Friday night. The Cardinals (6-4) are winners of two straight while the Royals (6-6) see their two-match win streak come to an end.
 
The opening set was a constant swing back and forth as the Cardinals led 4-0 before Scranton quickly drew level at 5-5. Then the Cardinals took a 16-12 lead and continued to hold a four-point edge until Scranton lowered the deficit to 22-21. Serving for the match at 24-23, Wesleyan went to their senior Lila Sayre '25 who delivered the set-clinching kill for a 25-23 first set win.
 
Scranton was the better side in the early stages of set two, building an 11-7 lead and later holding a 21-16 advantage after ripping off an 8-2 run. Just as the Royals seemed destined to even the set score at 1-1, Wesleyan mounted a furious comeback that began with kills from Michelle Jorba '25 and Siena Steines '28 but Scranton still held the advantage at 23-21. Looking to serve out the set, the Cardinals were gifted a point on a Scranton set error, followed by an attack error that leveled the score at 23 apiece. Then Steines put the set away with back-to-back service aces as the Cardinals won nine of the final 11 points of the set to take another 25-23 win.
 
The Royals bounced back in a big way, leading by as many as four points in the third set and never allowing the Cardinals to take a lead in the frame. The Cardinals used a late 4-1 run to even the score at 23-23, but Scranton got a sideout followed by a service ace from Katherine Denitz to stick in the match with a 25-23 win.
 
The two sides traded points in the early stages of the fourth set before eight unanswered Wesleyan points saw the Cardinal lead balloon to 16-8 and eventually 18-9. The Royals came roaring back with a 6-0 run of their own but would only get to within three points of the Cardinals for the remainder of the set as Wesleyan finished off the match with a 25-18 set win.
 
Five Cardinals finished with at least seven kills while none of those five finished with more than 10 as Wesleyan employed a balanced attack in this one. Michelle Jorba '25 recorded a team-leading 10 kills while Sayre totaled nine with a team-best .421 attack percentage. Sophie Corbeil '28 had nine kills with a .389 attack percentage. Morgan Mattson '28 finished with eight kills and just one error on 25 attempts while Fiona LaCamera '27 hit .400 with seven kills.
 
Ali Landa '26 recorded a season-high 29 assists in the win while Elliana Moreno '27 and Adrienne Nguyen '28 both had 15 digs to lead the team.
 
The Cardinals have two neutral site matches at Scranton on Saturday with showdowns against Stevenson (1 PM) and Haverford (3 PM).