Box Score NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Royals volleyball team squared off against the fourth seeded Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters in the SAC Volleyball Championships today. The Royals dropped the first set, but won the next three to win the match and advance to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
 
In the opening set the Royals jumped to an early 5-1 lead, but the Railsplitters quickly countered and evened the score following an attack error by Queens. The next portion of the match featured each squad battling for every point with LMU eventually taking a 10-13 lead and forcing head coach Lettie Wilkes to take a timeout. Unable to slow down the potent Railsplitters offense the Royals were forced to play from behind and eventually lost the set 15-25.
 
Set two both teams started out tied early on, but the Royals soon built a five point lead with the score 15-10. Yet, the Railsplitters were not done and came roaring back to narrow the score to one at 17-16. With the set down to the wire Queens showed their resiliency, dug in, and took the set by the score 25-19.
 
Down early in the third set Queens came roaring back into the set to even the score at 9-9 following multiple kills by Anna Gibbs. From there the Royals built a 15-9 lead following a six point run featuring two service aces by Alexa Sparrell. Holding off a potent LMU offense, Queens was able to take the third set by the score 25-20.
 
Much like the entire match the fourth set was a nail biter with each team exchanging points. With thirteen ties in the early portion of the set the Royals were eventually able to take a two point lead at 17-15 and force an LMU timeout. Queens continued to build on the lead and took the set 25-21.
 
Gibbs led the Royals with 12 kills and was joined in double digits by Meredith Jones who had 11. Taylor Riley finished the day with 44 assists and led the Royals with nine digs. As a team the Royals dominated the service line with 14 aces including five from Riley and four from Sparrell.
 
The Royals return to the court tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. to face the number one overall seed Wingate Bulldogs. Live stats and video will be available on QueensAthletics.com.