CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Coming off a 3-1 loss to Erskine College (13-4 CC, 17-10) over the weekend, Queens volleyball (10-6, 18-8) was in serious need of a rebound win. The Royals got that win Tuesday night at Belmont Abbey College (10-6, 18-9) and are nearly locked in to host a conference tournament game.

The two schools were nearly even statistically, both teams logged 12 total blocks, and the Royals won the dig battle 91-90. Queens hit .132 (58 kills, 33 errors on 190 total attacks), while the Crusaders logged a .082 attack (48 kills, 33 errors on 183 total attacks).

The Royals' NCAA DII 19th-ranked serve attack (2.16) produced 10 aces on the night, four of them by Alexa Sparrell (Winter Park, Fla., Winter Park), who's 0.56 aces per set ranks 21st in DII.

"We stayed very aggressive with our serving match," said Royals head coach Angela Mcguire. "We capitalized on those efforts by taking them out of their offensive system."

Queens was led by Keri Kemp (Lake Mary, Fla., Lake Mary), who posted a match-high 16 kills and 17 digs. Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) added 12 kills. Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) handed out 47 assists, 16 digs, and posted five kills on 18 attacks with no errors.

Defensively, Sparrell and Kemp led the Royals with 17 digs apiece, while Moore chipped in with 16. Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring), who served the final five points of the match, finished with two service aces to go along with 15 digs.

Lydia Schellenberg led Abbey with a double double, posting 14 kills and a match-high 24 digs. Bria James added 11 kills and 13 digs. Kay Schellenberg handed out 42 assists and posted 12 digs and four block assists. She also had three service aces.

Defensively, libero Taylor Stern led the Abbey with 19 digs, while Remick Tiller posted 18. Jennnifer Angelich finished with six block assists.

The Royals have a pair of games remaining before the Conference Carolinas Tournament begins Tuesday November 9th.

In able to lock down a home game, the Royals will need to get through Converse College and Barton College in back-to-back games this weekend.

The Royals topped Converse in five sets in their first match, but fell to Barton in 0-3 in the first meeting.

The match with Barton is a make-up game from October 14th. A a controlled fire in the area's laundry room forced the match to be rescheduled after Queens took the first set, 25-19.