HICKORY, N.C. – For the second time this week, the Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team played a five-set match against a South Atlantic Conference opponent. On Saturday afternoon it was the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University that got the best of the Royals, winning 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 11-25, 15-13) inside Shuford Gymnasium.
 
Queens fell to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in the SAC despite outhitting the Bears (10-3, 4-2 SAC) in the match and collecting 55 kills to the Bears' total of 46. Lenoir-Rhyne rested heavily on its defensive presence at the net, collecting 17 total blocks in the win.
 
The Royals opened the match with a 25-18 set one victory before Lenoir-Rhyne responded with back-to-back wins in the second and third sets to go up 2-1 in the match.
 
In the fourth, the Royals opened with a 6-2 lead before the Bears rallied to close the gap to a two-point deficit. Queens grew its lead to 10-5 and forced an LR timeout as the Royals' lead extended to a 20-10 advantage following consecutive Bear errors. The Royals ended the set with five straight points, including kills from sophomores Casey Tarvin and Chanel Turner to force a fifth set of play.
 
Queens once again got out to an early lead, building a 4-1 cushion and again forced an LR timeout. The Bears tied the match at 4-4 until a brief spurt put the Royals back in front by a 9-6 score.
 
From there, Lenoir-Rhyne scored six of the next seven points to build a 12-10 edge as Queens was able to battle back and knot the score at 13-all on consecutive kills from Tarvin and fellow sophomore Jordan Proszenyak. However, two attack errors from the Royals ended the match and sealed the home win for the Bears.
 
Tarvin led all players with 19 kills and 27 digs for her sixth double-double of the season to go along with two service aces, while Turner finished with 10 kills and 13 digs for a double-double of her own. Sophomore Logan Witt chipped in 13 kills from the middle and fellow sophomore Olivia Williamson had eight kills and eight total blocks.
 
Junior Mallory Swarts directed the offense with 47 assists and had 14 digs, while Proszenyak and sophomore JayCee Jones had 20 digs and 24 digs, respectively.
 
Queens remains on the road for their next test on Tuesday, September 25 as the team travels to Hartsville, S.C. for a rematch with Coker College at 7 p.m.