WINGATE, N.C. – The Royals faced a tough team this afternoon in the Wingate University Bulldogs who are currently ranked 16^th in the nation in NCAA DII volleyball. The Bulldogs came out on top defeating Queens University of Charlotte 3-0 (10-25, 17-25, 23-25).

Queens is now third in the league after today's non-conference match with a 10-6 overall record and a 5-1 conference record. Wingate remains undefeated on the year with a 16-0 record.

The Bulldogs were able to string together a series of runs in the first set helping them build a 15-3 lead. Their lead was in large part due to errors adding up on the Royals' side. Queens made an effort to comeback, but the margin was too large to overcome as the Bulldogs took the 1-0 advantage in the match.

Queens was down 9-4 in the second before seizing an opportunity to get back into the game.  A kill by Anna Gibbs (Hickory, N.C., Hickory) sparked a small run that brought the Royals to within four of the Bulldogs. A number of other small spurts would follow but they weren't enough as Wingate kept the gap wide enough to take the 25-18 win in the second.

In the third and final set, the Royals opened riding their momentum from the last as they led 3-2 after a kill by Alexa Sparrell (Winter Park, Fla., Winter Park). The Bulldogs picked up the point on the next play tying the set at 3-3 in route to a 6-to-0 run that gave them a five point lead, 8-3. The Royals took a timeout to regroup and returned to the court scoring two points. Wingate responded with another four point push making the game 12-5. The two teams went back and forth with the Bulldogs controlling the lead until a block by Anna Gibbs and Lindsey Everhart returned the serve to Queens enabling them to make a final run at extending the match.

Queens pushed seven points tying the game up at 23-23 with Keri Kemp (Lake Mary, Fla., Lake Mary) at the serve. That would be as close as Queens would get as the Royals run ended on a service error and the Bulldogs' Alison Cooke put down a ball for the win. Kemp had a kill and an ace in the spurt for Queens.

Gibbs and Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) teamed up for a combined 12 kills in today's match. Everhart and Ashley Winters (Fredericktown, Ohio, Highland) contributed five kills apiece as well. Taylor Riley (Lynchburg, Va., E.C. Glass) collected 15 assists while Ashlyn Dibrell (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) totaled 10. Brittney Barren (Ham Lake, Minn., Blaine) and Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring) led on the defensive end with12 and 11 digs, respectively.

Anna Hilton led the Bulldogs with 10 kills while Liz Willis dished out 31 assists. Maggie Malone led all today with 16 digs. The Bulldogs as a team totaled 21 blocks.
 
Queens returns to the court on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. when they play host to Coker College.