CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte Royals welcomed the Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State University ready to give the No. 23 team in the land a run for its money this evening in non-conference volleyball action. The Royals came up short falling 3-0 to the Pirates in a hard fought battle in The Oven.

Queens (4-4) fell 26-24, 25-22, and 25-18 to the Pirates (9-0), who leave Charlotte with their undefeated record intact after overcoming 10 team blocks from the home squad.

The Royals pounced on the Pirates early putting the visitors in unfamiliar territory as they got off to a 12-6 lead. Armstrong was only able to retake the lead at 25-24 after an attacking error by Queens' Tori Hernandez (Gainesville, Fla., Gainesvillle). They then won the set on a kill by Brendyce Budd.

Queens battled late in the second set getting edged 25-22 after the Pirates jumped out to an early six point lead.

The Royals with their backs against the wall raced out to a 9-3 lead in the third set, working to force a fourth set in the match, but the Pirates rebounded with five straight points on Natalie Edgeworth's serve and another five straight points on Budd's serve to turn a six-point deficit into a 14-12 lead.

A kill by Lindsey Everhart (Cincinnati, Ohio, McNicholls) would help the Royals take back control of the serve as they pushed three straight points on three attack errors by the Pirates bringing them to within four. However, that was as close as the Royals would get as Armstrong closed the match on a kill by Amanda Jones.

Everhart led the host Royals on the night, hitting .444 with eight kills and no errors in 18 attempts. Taylor Riley's (Lynchburg, Va., E.C. Glass) 10 assists led the home squad and three players - Riley, Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) and Erin Mooney (Bradenton, Fla., Cardinal Mooney) - each had eight digs while Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) notched five blocks.

Brittany Wolf led a trio of Pirates on the night with nine kills, but had no errors for a .600 hitting percentage. Jessica Santaniello and Jones each chipped in nine kills, while Ashley Seal tallied 31 assists and Santaniello added a match-high 14 digs.

Queens will begin conference play on Friday against North Greenville University at the The Oven at 6:30 p.m.