JEFFERSON CITY, TENN. – The No. 3 seed Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team won its first South Atlantic Conference Championship since joining the league in 2013 with a 3-1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-20, 25-20) victory over No. 4 seed Carson-Newman University on Saturday afternoon.
 
After Carson-Newman (17-14) won the opening set, Queens (23-7) responded with a 26-24 win in the second set to tie the match at one-all.
 
In the third, neither side was able to gain an advantage of more than three points until four unanswered points from the Royals put the team ahead 22-18 late in the frame. The Eagles closed the gap to two points, but two CN attack errors and a kill from senior right side Jessica Raines put Queens ahead 2-1 in the match.
 
The fourth set was once again a back-and-forth affair early on with Carson-Newman gaining a four-point advantage at 10-6 before Queens eventually tied the score at 16-all with a kill from junior Taylor Henry. The two teams traded points until a 5-0 run for the Royals, highlighted by kills from Raines and freshman Chanel Turner, ended the set and secured the championship trophy.
 
Senior setter Sydney Kunz was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after tallying 45 assists and 21 digs in the final to go along with four service aces.
 
Freshman Casey Tarvin led all players with 19 kills to go alongside 23 digs, followed by nine kills from Raines and eight each from Henry and senior Alex Thompson. Freshman libero JayCee Jones chipped in 22 digs on defense. Tarvin and Thompson joined Kunz on the All-Tournament Team for Queens.
 
With the victory Queens earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional and will await to hear who its next opponent will be during the selection show on Monday night.