WILSON, N.C. – The Royals (9-4) currently sit atop the East Division of Conference Carolinas with a 4-0 league record after defeating Barton College 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-13, 18-25, 15-10) this afternoon at Wilson Gymnasium. The win was the fifth in a row for the Royals, while the loss brings the Bulldogs' record to 5-7 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

Queens saw four players reach double digits in kills with Keri Kemp (Lake Mary, Fla., Lake Mary) leading the way on 14. Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) was on her heels with 13, while Lindsey Everhart (Cincinnati, Ohio, McNicholls) and Brittney Barren (Ham Lake, Minn., Blaine) collected 12 and 10, respectively.  Harvey's 13 kills came on 20 attempts with only two errors giving her .550 hitting percentage for the match. Queens as a team finished the game with a .351 hitting percentage. Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) and Ashlyn Dibrell (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) shared time at the setter position in turn tallying 27 and 20 assists.

On the defensive end, the Royals, who were leading in the league in blocks, managed but three in the first four sets, but were stellar above the net in the deciding set with five blocks on 15 points. Barren finished the match with three solo blocks and three assists for the victors while Tori Hernandez (Gainesville, Fla., Gainesvillle) and Harvey tallied three block assists each. Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring) led all players with 22 digs on the back line. Barren and Moore contributed on the efforts with nine digs apiece, while Dibrell and Sarah Malpass (Gainesville, Fla., Gainesville) notched seven apiece.

Kati Wood of the Bulldogs led all players on the attack with 16 kills. Melissa Cochran pitched in with 12 kills. Meka Hoover dished out a season high 39 assists. Amanda Grandy totaled 21 digs on defense. Wood completed a double-double notching 14 digs to go with her kills.

The Royals took control of the first set early building an eight point lead on a 9-to-1 run en route to getting the 25-13 win.

With Dibrell at the serve, Queens opened set two with a 5-to-0 run creating a six point cushion. Barton responded with a 9-to-1 run taking a two point lead (11-9). A kill by Keri Kemp followed by an attack error by the home team helped Queens tie the game up at 11-11. The Royals were then able to go ahead on scoring four points to the Bulldogs' one. With the score sitting at 18-17 in Queens' favor, Barton took over the set for the 25-21 win.

Set three was all Kemp as she collected eight of her 14 kills for the match. The Royals dominated the set building a nine point lead before Kemp put down four balls in a row making the score 23-10 before an attack error returned the serve to the Bulldogs. Cochran spiked a ball for a Barton point before Kemp returned the favor ending the set at 25-13.

The score sat at 10-10 in the fourth before the Bulldogs strung together a number of spurts forcing the fifth.

In the fifth set, Queens rolled to quick 4-0 and 7-2 leads, but Barton battled back to deadlocks at 8-8, 9-9 and 10-10. However, Queens scored the next five points to take command.

Queens returns to The Oven to face St. Andrews University on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.