CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With a gym full of excited fans back on campus from the holiday weekend, Queens University of Charlotte faced Lander University defeating the Bearcats in four sets, 3-1. The win was the first over a Peach Belt Conference institution in recent history and it improves the Royals' record to 4-0 on the season as Lander falls to 2-3.
The Royals fed off the energy of the crowd in the opening set downing the visitors 25-16 after putting down 11 kills.
In set two, the Bearcats woke up forcing the Royals to step up their defense as they held out to win 25-21.
The match took a turn when Lander was able to pick up the third set win. After going ahead 20-14, Queens pushed four points forcing a timeout by the visiting Bearcats. Queens stayed on Lander's heels trying to take the win, but the Bearcats held out forcing the game into a fourth set.
Lander controlled the fourth set for a short time until Queens took over the serve half way through making a five point push to take the lead for good. Another four points would stretch the lead out even more as the Royals were on their way to victory.
Leading Queens' attack tonight was
Alexa Sparrell (Winter Park, Fla., Winter Park) and
Brittney Barren (Ham Lake, Minn., Blaine) with nine and eight kills, respectively.
Avery Moore (Arlington, Texas, Lamar) tallied 17 assists while
Taylor Riley (Lynchburg, Va., E.C. Glass) collected 12. The Royals' defense was superb tonight notching 25 block assists. Barren had seven block assists while
Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley ) chipped in six alongside three solo blocks.
Jocelyn Kellinger (Roanoke, Va., Cave Spring) collected 31 digs on the back side.
Magi Nottingham led Lander with 12 kills. Jessica Register dished out 28 assists leading all players on the court. Madison Kubal led on the defensive end with 27 digs.
The Royals are traveling down to Florence, Ala., to play in the North Alabama Classic this weekend. They will play North Alabama on Friday at noon, and Nova Southeastern and Saint Leo on Saturday at 10 am and 3pm, respectively.
