ITHACA N.Y.- The nationally ranked No. 12 Ithaca College Bombers defeated the University of Scranton Royals in three sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-15) at home in Ben Light Gymnasium on Wednesday night, improving their record to 20-3 on the season as the team celebrated a Dig Pink match.
 
In the early going the Royals and Bombers battled closely for the first couple points, until the Bombers rattled off nine consecutive to lead 13-4. In the run the Bombers got five kills, with one coming from Brianna Owen and two each from Addison Leadbetter and Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu.
 
Scranton then started to fight back into the set, getting a couple of short runs to get within four, leaving them trailing 20-16. However, the Bombers never wavered, as they earned five of the next eight points on kills from Gabriela Gonzalez-Abreu and Leadbetter, plus three errors from Scranton to finish the set 25-19.
 
In the second set, neither team could gain the upper hand in the early going as both teams were playing strong defensively, not allowing more than two points in a row, bringing the score to 14-14. Throughout the back-and-forth the Bombers got multiple kills from Owen, Gonzalez-Abreu, and Ella Graper, and Gonzalez-Abreu also contributed a service ace.
 
The Bombers finally earned the first three-point run of the second set to pull away from the Royals, to lead 17-14. Ithaca followed that run up with a four-point run, getting kills from Gonzalez-Abreu, Owen, and Naomi Clauhs. Scranton quickly responded with three straight points of their own to get within three, down 21-18, but it was not enough as Ithaca got four of the last six points to win the second set 25-20.
 
In the third set the Bombers got off to a strong start, winning seven consecutive points with five kills from three separate players and two service aces from Ellie Benedict to take an early 7-1 lead. Scranton immediately countered with a five-point run of their own to get within one.
 
Shortly after that the Bombers won eight straight points, highlighted by three consecutive kills from Clauhs within that to take a commanding lead, 17-8. The Bombers then finished off Scranton in three sets with some more back-and-forth competition to close out the third set 25-15.
 
Gonzalez-Abreu led the Bombers with 13 kills, followed closely by Owen with 12. Meanwhile, Benedict led the team with 20 digs and Wesley Slavin had 36 assists in the match.

Next up, Ithaca will look to continue rolling as they close out Liberty League regular season play this weekend with a tri-match at Bard. They'll take on the Raptors at 1 p.m. followed by a 3 p.m. matchup against New Jersey City University.