CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senior libero
JayCee Jones tallied 25 digs on Tuesday night to break the women's volleyball program record for career digs, a mark that had stood since the 2016 season, in leading the Royals to a postseason victory. The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team collected a 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 25-16) win on its home floor over Mars Hill university in the South Atlantic Conference Spring Volleyball Championships Quarterfinals
Jones now has 1,728 career digs in just 341 sets, surpassing the old mark of 1,726 digs held by Megan Mancini who played in 412 sets from 2012-2016.
The fourth-seeded Royals (7-4) avenged a regular season loss to the fifth-seeded Lions (5-5) by holding MHU to a .146 hitting performance as bot Jones and
Casey Tarvin recorded 25 digs, followed by 18 digs from freshman
Kate Majewski.
Chanel Turner Turner and
Brooke Farley finished with 13 and 12 digs, respectively, as the team turned in its fourth-highest dig total of the season.
Queens controlled the opening set early, leading 8-4 to force a Mars Hill timeout before opening a lead as large as seven points, 17-10, on a Tarvin kill. The Lions tied the set at 19-all but the Royals pulled away with a 6-2 run to take the match lead.
The second and third sets of play saw the teams combined for 16 total ties and five lead changes in a back-and-forth affair. After the Lions won the second frame to avoid a sweep, Queens rallied from down five points in the third to end the set on a 7-2 run and go ahead 2-1 in the match.
In the fourth, the Royals jumped out an early 9-4 lead on a kill from
Olivia Williamson and never looked back, ending the match with three straight points, including two kills from
Logan Witt, to advance to the semifinal round.
Tarvin led all players with 19 kills on the outside, while Witt finished with 16 kills and a .517 hitting performance in the middle. Turner had 10 kills of her own for the Royals, while Farley registered 51 assists and
Gabbi Montgomery had four kills on six swings without an error in a reserve role.
Queens will return to the court for more postseason play on Thursday when the team travel to top-seeded Wingate University for a 7 p.m. matchup in Wingate, N.C.
