Box Score Charlotte, NC – For their Dig Pink match in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness and the Side-Out Foundation, Queens University of Charlotte's volleyball team (5-15, 2-10 SAC) squared-off against #9 Wingate (19-1, 12-0 SAC) on October 14, 2014, falling short in three sets to the nationally ranked Bulldogs 25-10, 25-18, 25-15.
Rebecca Cochran provided pressure from the Royals as she took hold of her 30th ace of the season.
Cochran would put forth four kills during the Wingate battle in addition to her two aces that placed her third among South Atlantic Conference opponents in overall services aces and second in overall aces per set.
Sydney Kunz and
Elizabeth Bialkowski would share the defensive lead both contributing two assisted blocks towards the match. Kunz would also seize eight digs for the Royals.
Abby Saehler and Susie Murach guided Wingate towards victory as Saehler accounted for eight of the Bulldogs 40 kills and Murach for seven. Kori Adams would lead the Bulldogs in digs securing 11 throughout the night. Alison Cooke would help complete the Bulldogs core line taking two aces and assisting 23 points.
Wingate showed their national ranking in the first set taking a 10-1 lead that was centered around Shelly Stumpff and her three kills.
Katie Schoenrock and Bialkowski put an end to the seven unanswered points with a commanding block but Queens would be unable capitalize (10-2). Wingate found four holes to drive through putting pressure on the Royals squad to force back-to-back errors and a timeout call (17-6).
Meredith Jones would give two more kills to the Royals but the team would be unable to bounce back conceding Set 1 25-10.
Set 2 would offer a completely different feel for the match as the Royals took the first run. Cochran would bookends a Bialkowski kill with two kills of her own to give Queens their first lead of the match (3-1). The Bulldogs would find tying points at 3-3 and 4-4 but Cochran would fire an unwavering serve to put the Royals ahead at 6-4 and force Wingate to call timeout. With momentum coming from the Royals, Wingate would find themselves facing a 10-6 deficit due to a couple miscued errors. However, the young Royals squad would be unable to maintain their lead, taking three errors and an ace to see a shift back towards Wingate side (11-10 Wingate). The Bulldogs would continue to build eventually find their way into a 16-11 lead.
Alex Thompson would provide a brief stop but Wingate would rattle three more unanswered points (19-12). Following the last Royals timeout, Kunz would provide the Royals with a 19-14 ace but Queens would fall 25-18 shortly after.
The Royals would again in Set 3 find an early lead
Jessica Raines firing off three early kills (5-2). Although the Royals would battle hard, a 5-5 tie would be the last time the team would hold the lead during the match. It would be Saehler who would make the Queens' bench call their first timeout, grasping two back-to-back spiraling kills for a 9-6 Bulldog lead before the team could extend out to 13-6 score. Bialkowski would provide another kill partnered with Cochran's second ace of the night to help maintain the score at 16-10. The team would be unable to make up ground as Wingate would find five more unanswered points as the Royals trailed 21-10. Queens would only acquire five more points before Wingate would claim victory over the match with 25-15 set score.
The Royals will again take to the road visiting second in the South Atlantic Conference, Carson-Newman (15-4, 11-1 SAC) on Friday, October 17th, before driving to Harrogate, Tenn. to take on Lincoln Memorial (11-9, 7-5 SAC) the following Saturday.
The Side-Out Foundation (Side-Out) was established in 2004 to unite volleyball players and coaches and to have them work toward the common goal of furthering breast cancer awareness, education and patient services. Side-Out supports teams nationwide in their volleyball tournaments, clinics and other fundraising efforts. They contribute funds to organizations that serve breast cancer patients, whether it be in the form of research, medical services or patient support.
