Box Score Charlotte, NC - Queens University of Charlotte volleyball team (5-11, 2-6 SAC) put together a spectacular performance in an upset win against Anderson University (12-4, 5-3 SAC) taking the Trojans to five sets in their 24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 15-9 victory on Saturday, October 4, 2014. Queens University of Charlotte had seven players set new season record highs.
It was a record setting night for several Royals players as the team played a driven match, on alumni weekend, against the Trojans.
Meredith Jones would lead Queens, breaking her previous season high 11 kills with 19 hurling shots that found the Trojan floor. Jones would also contribute an ace and a block to the Royals cause.
Elizabeth Bialkowski also had a season high performance tallying 16 kills on the match in combination with a block.
Katie Schoenrock would harness a double-double with ten kills and a new career record of 11 digs, in addition to providing an assist to Jones in the second set. Not to be left out
Alex Thompson would take 14 kills (a new career record) and three blocks helping to put together a forceful offensive Royals side.
Sydney Kunz would provide the foundation in the attack as she tallied 55 assists (new record) to help the Royals upset the Trojans.
With an overall attacking percentage of .227, Queens brought forth 72 total kills for the match, the most this season. The squad found 57 digs in the match with 20 coming from
Megan Mancini who was one shy of tying her career high. Queens also posted eight blocks with three of them coming from Thompson and two from Kunz. In addition,
Liza Schimmelfing and Mancini added two aces each in the match. The Royals managed to tally more kills in each individual set than the Trojans, on their road to success.
Anderson was led by Hailey Pittman who dispatched 12 kills of her own for the Trojans in addition to taking six of the teams 18 blocks. Priscilla Irizarry and Tatianna Grodecky each aided the Anderson offense with 15 assists being attributed a piece to the pair. Shannon Gillespie would scoop 15 digs for the Trojans with Alix Hooker there to grab ten more.
Bialkowski would set the tone for the match taking hold of the first two kills in Set 1 to get things going.
Amanda Karan would make two diving saves to help keep the Royals alive and push the team out to a 6-3 lead. The Trojans would fight their way back to a 9-9 tie with Marissa Mitter placing one into a Royals gap. Queens would take a timeout to refocus before the two teams would ensue on a run that saw 11 tying points, bringing the game to 24-24 all. Anderson would close out the match collecting the next two points for a 26-24 set win.
Costly mistakes early put the Royals in a 5-2 hole, however the team would bounce back to square things up at 6-6. Anderson would again pull back out in front eventually finding a 12-7 hold over the young Royals squad. Bialkowski would help lead the charge as the Royals would bring themselves back within one (14-13) with Bialkowski asserting four kills into the Anderson side. Once more, however, Queens would find themselves trailing due to errors as the team sat facing an 18-13 deficit bringing about a Royals timeout. Energized by the pause in play, the Royals would regain the lead as
Jessica Raines would take the first kill out of break. Schimmelfing would light up the court with her serving, grabbing an ace and aiding Schoenrock to two kills and Thompson to three kills in a row to bring about a 20-19 Royals lead. Jones would find a pair of kills to help the Royals cap off the set 25-22.
Both teams would find themselves evenly matched as the court broke from the half with no team able to gain a real advantage remaining tied at 5-5. Anderson would soon move out to a 8-5 lead but Schoenrock would provide an answer with two kills to bring the team within one (9-8). The two conference rivals would scuffle, trading points through a 20-20 set score before the Royals would rise to the occasion as Jones and Bialkowski each garnered two kills apiece to close out the set (25-20) and put the Royals up 2-1 in the match.
Queens led the advance in the fourth set taking a 9-4 lead with a hammer coming from Thompson. Anderson would start a slow ascent, pushing their way back to an 11-11 game before pushing out into a 14-11 lead causing a Queens timeout. The two teams would remain close but it would be Anderson who would pull out of a 16-16 tie, going on a 9-2 match closing run (25-18).
In only the second deciding set of the year, the Royals came out fired up and ready to make a statement. Like the set before, the Royals took an early 9-4 lead as Thompson took a kill and a shared a block with Jones. Anderson would pull within two after back to back Royals errors (9-7), but Queens refocused and holstered a blistering 6-2 run to end the match with a 15-9 Royals victory.
Queens will return to action on Tuesday, October 6, as they host Catawba (3-11, 1-8 SAC).
