CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team opened their 2017 campaign this afternoon in the Queens Volleyball Fall Invitational picking up a pair of wins over California University of Pennsylvania and Shorter University to begin the year at 2-0.
 
Rebecca Cochran led the Royals attack today totaling 27 kills over the two games while also recorded 36 digs. Jessica Raines added 22 kills, and Sydney Kunz dished out 85 assists. Lexie Dolecheck also put forth a great defensive effort totaling 33 digs.
 
Game 1
 
After shaking off the rust in set one where they fell 25-21, Queens took three straight sets over the Vulcans to win 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-11) in their season opener.
 
Despite the opening set starting off closely matched, the Royals found themselves trailing 21-14 after the Vulcans scored five points in a row. One final push from the Royals pulled the home team within three of California but a service error allowed the Vulcans to take the set, 25-21.
 
Set two and three were both tightly contested with multiple ties and lead changes. However, each time the Royals battled, in the end, to pull out the wins and take a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth.
 
The Royals then dominated the final set putting together strings of runs en route to winning the match.
 
Cochran led the Royals attack against the Vulcans totaling 20 kills with a .302 attack percentage. Raines followed with 14 kills and a .343 attack percentage. Kunz totaled 51 assists while Dolechek recorded 18 digs. Cochran also added 16 digs.
 
Game 2
 
Later in the evening, the Royals faced Shorter taking all three sets over the Hawks (25-18, 26-24, 25-22).
 
After the first set opened going back and forth, Queens pulled away thanks to four straight errors by the Hawks making the score 10-5. Errors continued to plague the Hawks throughout the set as the Royals went on to open the match with a 1-0 lead.
 
Set two was a game of runs which came down to the wire after a pair of points from the Hawks out of a timeout equalized things at 24-24. However, they would follow those points with two errors helping the Royals move ahead 2-0.
 
Both teams battled in the third set keeping things close until a 4-0 run allowed the Royals to pull ahead 21-17. Soon after, a kill and an ace from Cochran would set the Royals up for match point, 24-20, and they would go on to win collecting their final point of the day on a service error by the Hawks.   
 
Casey Tarvin would lead the Royals attack in game two totaling 12 kills, while Raines added eight kills. Kunz recorded 34 assists, while Cochran led in digs with 20.
 
The Royals return to the court tomorrow afternoon for the second and final day of the Queens Volleyball Fall Invitational. Queens will take on Augusta University at 2 p.m. and Francis Marion University at 7 p.m. The Royals defeated the Jags in last year's tournament and picked up a pair of wins over the Patriots as well.