CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senior
Jessica Raines put down a career-high 19 kills and the Royals had a season-high 13 service aces en route to a 3-2 (25-29, 26-24, 19-25, 23-25, 15-10) win over Lincoln Memorial University on Friday night.
Queens improve to 11-4 overall with a 6-3 mark in the South Atlantic Conference, while the Railsplitters fell to 6-7 with a 3-6 league record.
Lincoln Memorial raced out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening set of play before five unanswered points from Queens, including three consecutive service aces by sophomore
Mallory Swarts, put the home team ahead by two. Queens extended its advantage to a 16-9 margin following back-to-back services aces from senior
Sydney Kunz and cruised to a win in the first set.
The Royals continue to control the match in the second set, leading 15-9 after consecutive kills from Raines and a Lincoln Memorial attack error. However, the visitors used a late 8-2 run to take a one-point lead. Queens responded with another kill from the right side by Raines to tie the set and eventually end the frame with Swarts' fifth service ace for a 2-0 lead.
QU was unable to carry momentum over into the net set, falling 25-19 in the third and again at 25-23 in the fourth, at the Railsplitters battled back to force a deciding fifth set.
In the final set, Queens used three kills from freshman
Casey Tarvin and two more from Raines to build a 10-5 lead that was punctuated by the team's 13th service ace from senior
Rebecca Cochran. LMU did not go quietly, but a
Taylor Henry kill and a double block by Henry and Raines ended the match with the Royals ahead.
Raines 19 kills led all players and came on the heels of a .349 hitting percentage to go along with six digs and five total blocks. Swarts finished the night with 18 digs and five service aces, while freshman
JayCee Jones chipped in a season-high 21 digs from her libero position.
Cochran registered her 10th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs, as Henry totaled eight kills, seven total blocks and two service aces. Senior
Alex Thompson also had eight kills on the night, and Kunz had a match-high 47 assists as well as nine digs and three service aces.
The Royals are in action again tomorrow against Carson-Newman University at 2 p.m. inside Curry Arena.
