FLORENCE, S.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team opened the 2018 season in winning fashion on Saturday in the Coker/Francis Marion Tournament, earning victories over Virginia Union University and tournament host Francis Marion University inside the Smith University Center.
 
Queens 3, Virginia Union 0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-16)
 
The Royals opened the day hitting .263 in the first set of action to secure a nine-point win over the Panthers. The second set began with Queens getting out to a 4-1 lead following a service ace from sophomore Casey Tarvin.
 
Virginia Union battled back to within a point of the Queens lead before a Logan Witt kill and a Panther attack error put the Royals back in front by three. The Panthers eventually took an 18-17 lead late in the set but Queens turned the tide with a 5-0 run to regain momentum and cruise to a four-point victory.
 
Queens started the third set of play with a 7-3 lead and extended its advantage to 12-5 following back-to-back kills from freshman Lindsay Elmore. The Royals never trailed in the set en route to securing the three-set sweep.
 
The Royals' defense held Virginia Union to a .018 hitting mark and had seven service aces in the match. Sophomore JayCee Jones paced the defensive effort with a team-high 13 digs from her libero position.
 
Sophomore Chanel Turner led the offense with a match-high 10 kills and a .318 hitting percentage, followed by nine kills from Witt. Freshman Brooke Farley had 15 assists and eight digs in her first collegiate match, while junior Mallory Swarts had 11 assists, eight digs and two service aces of her own.
 
Queens 3, Francis Marion 2 (23-25, 25-16, 26-28, 25-22, 15-13)
 
Saturday's final match saw regional foes Queens and Francis Marion use five sets to decide the outcome.
 
After the Patriots took the first set of play, Queens responded with a convincing nine-point win in the second set to even the match at one set apiece.
 
The third set needed extra points to be decided with Francis Marion taking the win via a 28-26 score, but the Royals once again even the match score with a 25-22 win to force a deciding fifth set of action.
 
Queens and Francis Marion traded points in the early portion of the frame until the Royals used four unanswered points to build a 7-4 lead on a kill by redshirt-freshman Gabbi Montgomery. FMU battled back to eventually tie the set at 11-11 and 12-12, but Queens closed the frame with three of the final four points to take the match victory.
 
Turner once again led the offense with a career-high 25 kills, matching a Queens single match record, and had 18 digs on defense, followed by 21 kills and a career-high 32 digs by Tarvin. Tarvin also chipped in three service aces, as did Swarts.
 
Witt chipped in nine kills and five total blocks at the net, while redshirt-freshman Alexandria Becerra had 37 assists and 15 digs in her first career start.Jones had a career-high 29 digs in the match on defense.
 
The Royals will be back in action next weekend as they host the sixth annual Queens Fall Classic in Charlotte on Friday, August 31 and Saturday, September 1 inside the Levine Center.