CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team capped off a five game homestand with a victory over Newberry College on Saturday afternoon in Curry Arena. The win improved the Royals record to 12-9 overall and 7-5 in South Atlantic Conference play while Newberry fell to 9-10 overall and 4-8 in league action. The Royals are now 7-3 in Curry Arena this season and finished the five game homestand with three wins.
 
The Royals got off to a slow start on the afternoon falling behind the Wolves early. In the opener, the Royals committed nine attacking errors and struggled to find a groove. Trailing 16-11, the Wolves used a 6-2 run to burst ahead and leave the Royals with little hope as the deficit increased to 22-13. The young Royals squad accepted the challenged and persevered by mounting a 13-2 rally and storming back to steal the set from the Wolves 26-24. During that stretch, Queens recorded seven kills and Jesse George (Virginia Beach, Va.) notched three service aces. The rookie finished with a game-high five aces at the line.
 
Similar to the first set, the Wolves jumped out quickly by taking a 6-2 lead. After the Royals managed to even the score 9-9, the Wolves would capitalize on a 7-2 rally and take a 16-11 lead. Queens would not shy away as Hannah Long's group made another commanding 10-3 run and regained the lead 21-19. Both squads would go point-for-point until the Wolves committed a service error allowing the Royals to tie the game 24-24. Queens would tally a kill from Lindsay Elmore (Salisbury, N.C.) before securing another comeback set on an attack error by Newberry.
 
The final set opened with the Royals jumping ahead early 6-2 and finding their rhythm. Newberry would inch closer and tie the match 10-10, but the Royals used one last 8-2 rally which was capped off by a Lindsay Elmore kill to deplete the Wolves chances. The final set saw the Royals hit a game-high .244 while minimizing their attacking errors to five. The Wolves would manage to hit .167 in the final set while committing six attack errors.
 
The Royals were led offensivley by Lindsay Elmore tallying 11 kills and Abbey Criser (West Yarmouth, Mass.) recording nine kills and a .214 hitting percentage. Senior Brooke Farley (Fort Mill, S.C.) dished out 35 assists in the victory. On defense, Jordyn Johnson finished with 17 digs while Elmore and Kayla McDuffie (Winterville, N.C.) tallied three total blocks each. Newberry was led offensively by Natasha Bannister with a game-high 17 kills.
 
The Royals will open a two-match road trip next Friday night at Mars Hill University. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Following the match, the Royals will take on Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. from Hickory. Make sure you follow the Royals on Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date on all game updates and news.