Box Score Charlotte, NC – Queens University of Charlotte (6-24, 3-18 SAC) pushed Lenoir-Rhyne (21-8, 15-7 SAC) to the end, in the Royals 3-0 loss to the Bears on Friday, November 7, 2014. The Royals battled hard through the three sets tying the match 19 times and forcing 10 lead changes in the 25-20, 25-19, 26-24 loss.
Meredith Jones lead the Royals grabbing 10 kills for the match and marking her eight time this season she reached double digits for the category.
Alex Thompson would trail shortly behind her teammate for nine kills in the match. With several diving saves,
Megan Mancini took home 15 digs adding with it a pair of aces.
As a team, the squad grabbed 41 kills for the match to hit a .141 attacking percentage. Queens took 51 digs compared to Lenoir-Rhyne's 53 in the match. The Bears also had a .202 attacking percentage for their 38 kills.
Lenoir-Rhyne ran their offense through Ashley Wells who took 11 kills. Brandi Thomas found eight kills in the match to accompany an ace. Briana Gottberg provided 33 assists while Morgan Bunker took 13 digs to lead in the category.
Both teams would trade scores through the beginning of the first game ending up in a 3-3 tie to start the match. The Royals would go on a run as they took an 11-5 lead in the game capped off with a pair of kills from Jones. Queens held on with kills coming from
Elizabeth Bialkowski and
Jessica Raines as the Bears clawed themselves back into the set with a 14-12 Royals' lead. Both schools kept the score even until Lenoir-Rhyne took a 23-19 hold before finishing the first set with a 25-20 win as Wells took three of the last five points.
As Set 2 went underway, Queens fought their way into an early 7-3 lead with two Royals' aces being provided at the hands of Mancini and Jones. A block from Haley Rhyne and Gottberg pushed momentum back to the Bears who again found Wells for Lenoir-Rhyne points (9-9). Thomas would take the lead as the Bears put distance on the scoreboard extending 20-15 lead. The Royals grabbed only three more points before the set was capped at 25-19 Lenoir-Rhyne.
The third set saw Lenoir-Rhyne take an early 4-1 lead, but the Royals would bring the set even at 7-7 as Mancini took the charge grabbing her second ace for the night. Soon facing a 10-7 deficit, Lenoir-Rhyne would call timeout after Thompson capped a string of Bears errors. Queens continued to provide pressure rattling the Bears to take a 21-16 advantage. Kiaya Robinson found a pair of kills that aided the Bears fight to return the match to a 21-21 tie. Both teams would trade scores throughout the remainder of the set until Lenoir-Rhyne would end the set with a 26-24 win.
The Royals will be back in action tomorrow, for their final game of the season against Brevard College (10-17, 4-16 SAC) as they host the Tornados in the Levine Center at 2 PM.
