NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte volleyball team traveled to wrap their season series with the Newberry College Wolves this evening, falling 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-22, 13-15). Queens heads into their final game of the regular season with a 19-7 overall record. They are 16-5 in South Atlantic Conference play. Newberry Improves to 18-11 on the year and 15-6 in the league.
The Royals found themselves fighting back from a 2-0 deficit heading into the third set of tonight's match. They would battle to win the third, forcing extra sets this evening.
Rebecca Cochran totaled 19 kills in tonight's match, while
Alex Thompson added 12.
After game one sat tied at 7-7, the Wolves put together a string of runs to take the 25-17 set win. The Royals closed the game to three at one point, but couldn't get any closer as Newberry opened with the 1-0 lead.
Queens trailed the Wolves from the start of the second until two straight points with
Mallory Swarts serving knotted the game at 12-12. Two more ties followed before Newberry once again grabbed their points in short spurts to take the set 25-20.
The third set saw eight ties before the Royals ran away with the win. A five point push that started with an
Alex Thompson kill and ended with an ace from Swarts gave Queens a 14-10 lead. The Royals then closed the set stringing together runs just as the Wolves had to stay alive with a 25-17 win.
Though trailing early in the fourth set, the Royals battled to keep things tight with the Wolves. A three-point swing put together with a pair of kills from
Rebecca Cochran and an ace from
Sydney Kunz would give Queens a 17-15 lead, forcing the Wolves to call a timeout. Four ties would follow before
Julia Forbes and Cochran closed the set out with a pair of kills to help Queens extend the match to a deciding fifth set.
Following six ties in the deciding set, the Wolves moved ahead on back-to-back kills to make the score 12-10. Queens responded to pull within one, 14-13, on a kill from Thompson. However, an error by the Royals would give the match point to the Wolves.
Madison Darby-McClure led Newberry with 16 kills. Toni-Anne Whitlow and Logan Hayward followed with 14 and 13 kills, respectively.
The Royals will close the regular season tomorrow at Anderson University. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m.
