MILLEDGEVILLE, GA. – The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team closed out the week by picking up a pivotal non-conference victory 3-2 at Georgia College on Saturday afternoon in the Centennial Center. The victory improved the Royals overall record to 15-11 while the Bobcats fell to 9-21. The Royals are now 3-4 on the season in decisive five set matches and they improved to .500 in matches away from Curry Arena.
 
Queens opened the evening convincingly as the Royals won the first set 25-16. Queens wasted no time jumping ahead quickly to an 8-2 lead which was capped off by an Alleigh Johnson (Winterville, N.C.) kill. The visitors tallied 13 kills on a .242 hitting percentage while holding the Bobcats to a .028 percentage as well as eight attacking errors.
 
The second set opened with the Royals grabbing the first two points. The brief lead would not last long as the Bobcats rallied five consecutive points and never trailed the remainder of the set. Queens managed to close the gap and tie the score twice, but the home team would not budge as they took the set 25-19. The errors would mount for the Royals as they committed nine attacking errors in route to a .065 hitting clip. Similar to the second set, the Royals struggled to find their rhythm in the third as they committed six attacking errors in the 25-21 loss. The third frame was very tight and competitive for much of the set as there were 10 ties and four lead changes.
 
With their backs against the wall, head coach Hannah Long managed to fire the young Royals squad up as Queens opened the fourth set 9-0. The Royals recorded six kills during the run, including three from sophomore Grace Giunta (Palm City, Fla.). Georgia College would not shy away as the veteran Bobcats squad would respond with an 8-2 run themselves. Both offenses would exchange points before the Royals closed the set on a massive 10-0 run to force a deciding fifth set. During the closing run, sophomore Kate Majewski (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) tallied three service aces to energize the Royals squad. In the fourth, Queens hit .176 with 14 kills while the Bobcats hit .038 with seven attack errors.
 
The energy was evident from the Royals in the fifth set. Despite falling behind 3-1, Queens quickly went on a 7-0 run and never looked back as they stormed from behind and sealed the fifth set 15-10. For the match, the Royals hit .145 as a team with 58 kills and held Georgia to a .115 mark with 32 errors. A difference maker in the match came from the service line as the Royals notched 12 service aces which ties for seventh best in program history for aces in a five-set match. Kate Majewski led the charge with four while Jesse George (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Jordyn Johnson (Jamestown, N.C.) tallied three each.
 
The Royals were led offensively by Lindsay Elmore (Salisbury, N.C.) who tallied 12 kills with a .323 hitting percentage. Grace Giunta finished the evening with 10 kills and Brooke Farley (Fort Mill, S.C.) set up the attack with 51 assists. On defense, Jesse George had an incredible evening with 29 digs while Brooke Farley, Jordyn Johnson, and Kate Majewski each had over 15 digs a piece. The Royals ferocious defense earned three solo blocks, including a pair from Victoria Wood (Jacksonville, Fla.). The Bobcats were led by Ally Hall who notched a double-double with 16 kills and 23 digs and Sarah Stewart who recorded 19 kills and 21 digs.
 
Queens will now gear up and return home to face Wingate on Thursday, Nov. 11 at 7:00 p.m. for Fan Appreciation Night. The Royals will conclude the regular season next Saturday when they celebrate senior day with a match against Coker beginning at 2:00 p.m. Be sure to follow the Royals on Instagram and Twitter to stay up to date on all game updates and news.