Box Score Charlotte, NC – CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Queens University of Charlotte volleyball (6-21, 3-15 SAC) took to the road to face Newberry College (13-13, 7-11 SAC) on Friday, October 31, 2014, battling through a three set loss to the Wolves 25-18, 25-18, 25-23.
Elizabeth Bialkowski and
Jessica Raines took hold of the offense as Bialkowski found the Newberry floor seven times to partner with six kills from Raines. Raines also assisted in four Royals blocks for the night. Queens would serve seven unreturnable balls as
Sydney Kunz,
Rebecca Cochran, and
Megan Mancini each took two aces. Mancini led the team with 18 digs while Kunz took 23 assists.
Logan Hayward took the lead for the Wolves garnering 10 kills, one ace, and a block. Holly Brisson would trail shortly behind with eight kills and four blocks for the night. Ashley Minor and Rachel Moran led the Wolves in assists taking 17 and 12, respectfully, while Elayni Strokes gathered 16 digs.
Cochran started the match taking full advantage of a Newberry error, by driving an ace through the Wolves side (2-0). Queens would pull out into an early 4-2 run, but forced into a timeout as the Wolves battled back for a 7-4 lead. Queens would pose a come-back run bringing the game to 11-10, with the charge being lead from
Alex Thompson and Cochran who both grabbed an ace. The two teams would continue to battle with
Jessica Raines picking up a pair of kills (14-13). Although it would be a slow climb the Wolves would take the set 25-18.
Bialkowski found a kill to start Set 2 and put the Royals on the board early. Pushing through early errors, the Royals kept a close match (3-3) as Bialkowski and Raines denied a Lauren Prachar attack. Queens, refusing to let the Wolves push out in front, would seek Raines to capitalize on a couple of Newberry errors to keep a tied 8-8 game. However, Rachel Moran would take back-to-back aces to launch Newberry on a 6-0 run. The Royals would soon find themselves facings 23-12 game, fighting to stay alive.
Megan Mancini, partnered with a kill from Bialkowski, launched the team on a run as Mancini took back-to-back aces clawing the team into a 23-16 set. In the end, the team would be unable to overcome the deficit falling 25-18.
Set 3 started with Raines and Thompson taking early kills for the Royals, however a timeout from the bench would allow Queens to refocus from a 5-1 Newberry run that lead to an 8-4 game. A driving hit from Cochran that found the backline would break the ice as the Royals battled against the Wolves (12-6 Newberry). Queens started to pull back as
Katie Schoenrock forced an unmanageable hit onto the Newberry side to partner with the duo Raines and Thompson who took back-to-back blocks (15-12 Newberry). The Wolves would call a timeout but Raines found the floor coming out of the break (15-13). The Royals sustained their run through a 15-15 tie that rattled the Wolves with Queens eventually overtaking them, 17-15. Thompson and Bialkowski forced a second Newberry timeout as the pair found the Newberry floor (19-17). Holding their ground a quick combo of Kunz to Bialkowski gave the Royals a 22-20 lead but Amanda Soper and Logan Hayward would rally for kills to shift the set back in their favor 23-22. Cochran kept the Royals alive as Newberry found match point, but the Wolves would cap the match 25-23.
Queens continues their road weekend visiting Anderson University tomorrow, November 1, for a 2 P.M. match.
