SALISBURY, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte volleyball team travelled to the Catawba College Tournament today to face off against the Shippensburg Raiders to open the season. The Royals started off strong, but were unable to hold off the Raiders and dropped the match 3-1.
 
The Royals opened the match exchanging points with Shippensburg, but eventually Queens picked up an early 5-3 lead after back-to-back Keri Kemp kills with Megan Mancini picking up assists. The Raiders were able to tie the game quickly, but with the outside hitters applying pressure the Royals were able to regain the lead late in the set by the score of 19-14.
       
Continuing to battle above the net the Royals added to the lead before taking the set by the score of 25-18. With Kemp pacing the way with nine kills in the first set, and Queens hit an overwhelming .714 with only one error on 21 attempts.
 
In set two it was the Raiders who took an early lead by the score of 3-11, but the Royals were able to begin to narrow the score. Behind the strong serving of Katie Schoenrock the Royals caught fire and rattled off five straight points to make the score 17-19. Battling back and forth both teams exchanged points until the Riders were forced to take a timeout with their lead at 19-21.
 
Showing their determination the Royals were not done as they were able to even the score at 22-22 off on an attack error, but were unable to fully take the lead and dropped the set by the score of 23-25.
 
In set three the Royals found themselves in another early hole, but continued to show their resilience and shrunk the Raiders lead to two multiple times throughout the middle of the set. With the game up for grabs it was the senior Kemp who tied the score 14-14.
 
The Raiders quickly rallied to go up by four points, but with senior Jocelyn Kelliner at the service line the Royals rattled off four straight points to make the score 20-20. But much like the second set the Royals could not hold off their opponents and dropped the third set by the score of 23-25.
 
In the fourth set the Royals continued to match the Raiders point-for-point and eventually were able to take the lead 12-9. But, the Royals were unable to hold onto the lead, and were eventually found themselves tied at 24. But, they were unable to take the set and lost by the score of 27-25.
 
Leading the Royals statistically were Kemp with 19 kills and Schoenrock with 11. Taylor Riley paced the Royals with 22 assists with Mancini adding 19. Kellinger led the defense with 15 digs with Kemp adding 10.
 
The Royals retake the court tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. against Montevallo in day two of the tournament.