BANNER ELK, N.C. – Queens University of Charlotte traveled to Banner Elk, N.C., this evening to take on the top team in the conference, Lees-McRae College. The Royals fell 3-1 to the Bobcats by scores of 24-26, 25-21, 16-25 and 14-25.

Queens (13-7) drops to third in the conference at 7-2 in the league while still holding on to the top spot in the East Division. The Bobcats (17-6) remain the only undefeated team in conference play at 12-0.

The Royals led by as much as five points on multiple occasions in the match's opening set before the Bobcats tied the game up at 14-14. Queens led once more before Lees-McRae tied the set up again in route to taking a five point lead of their own. The Royals put together another short run relying on their defense to catch back up and force another tie at 23-23. Two kills by the Bobcats ended the set in their favor in extra points.

Set two was a tight one seeing 14 ties as each team struggled on the attack. The Royals performed slightly better than the Bobcats recording a .152 hitting percentage to their .043. The score sat at 19-19 when Queens took control capitalizing on Lees-McRae's errors. The Royals collected the final three points on two blocks and a kill to take the set 25-21.

A block by Keri Kemp (Lake Mary, Fla., Lake Mary) and Lindsey Everhart (Cincinnati, Ohio, McNicholls) tied the third set at 7-7 before the Bobcats strung together a number of spurts in route to the 25-16 win.

The Bobcats opened the final set of play with two aces and two blocks allowing them to build a 5-0 lead early. The Royals battled back but weren't able to get any closer than five points to the Bobcats as they went on to win the set and the match.

Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) and Brittney Barren (Ham Lake, Minn., Blaine) led Queens' offense with seven kills apiece. Everhart also contributed collecting five kills. Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) returned to play leading the Royals in assists with 12. Anna Gibbs (Hickory, N.C., Hickory) dominated at the net collected 11 total blocks while Kemp notched five. Moore also notched 11 digs giving her a double-double. Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring) tallied 11 digs as well.

Leading the Bobcats was Megan Epperson with a game-high 17 kills. Taylor Clendenin and Dana Oliver collected 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Megan Mitchell led all players on the court with 47 assists to go along with her 11 digs for a double-double.  Oliver and Clendenin also recorded double-doubles with 14 and 12 digs. Sariah Suryadevara led her team in digs with 23.

The Royals have little time to regroup as they will face conference rival Belmont Abbey College tomorrow afternoon at 2 pm.