BANNER ELK, N.C. – The Royals traveled to Lees-McRae College to face the Bobcats for the second time this season, this time being in the Conference Carolinas Tournament Championship. Queens University of Charlotte fell in three sets (21-25, 21-25, 18-25) to the Bobcats concluding their season with the most wins in program history at 23-9. Lees-McRae advances to the NCAA Tournament with the win.

Keri Kemp (Lake Mary, Fla., Lake Mary) led the Royals today with 10 kills as Queens had a hard time putting the ball down finishing with a .034 hitting percentage. Setters Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) and Taylor Riley (Lynchburg, Va., E.C. Glass) tallied 10 and eight assists, respectively. Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring) led in digs with nine, while Erin Mooney (Bradenton, Fla., Cardinal Mooney) chipped in six.

The Bobcats were led by Taylor Clendenin and Megan Epperson who each notched 10 kills. Megan Mitchell dished out a game-high 31 assists. On defense, Sariah Suryadevara led Lees-McRae with 14 digs. Epperson collected 10 digs giving her a double-double on the day.

Game one was close seeing six ties early before the Bobcats took the lead after an attack error by the Royals, 8-7. Queens trailed until a 5-0 run tied the game up once again at 14-14. Kemp delivered two kills and Riley served an ace during the spurt. A kill by Clendenin returned the lead to the Bobcats, which they held on to for the 1-0 lead.

The Royals led early in the second until back-to-back attack errors allowed Lees-McRae to equalize the game at 10-10. Another tie would follow before the Bobcats would take the lead scoring six straight points. The Royals later responded with a five point push to trail 18-17. However, errors by the Royals paired with service aces from the home team allowed Lees-McRae to go up 2-0.

In game three the Royals led 8-5 when the Bobcats pushed five points to take a two point lead, 10-8. Anna Gibbs (Hickory, N.C., Hickory) put the Royals down by one with a kill, 12-11. Lees-McRae then strung together a number of short runs en route to the 25-18 game win to take the match.

After the game, Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) and Kemp were each named to the Conference Carolinas Tournament All-Tournament Team. Kemp finished the tournament with 31 kills and four blocks, while Harvey had 28 kills and 10 blocks.