CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Queens returned to Curry Arena Wednesday evening to take on Lees-McRae in search of their first win. They came out firing on all cylinders and managed to defeat the Bobcats in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-19).

With the win, Queens improved to 1-2 while Lees-McRae starts off 0-1.

GAME SUMMARY
The first set was a back-and-forth battle that saw six lead changes throughout. Queens pulled ahead early on, as kills by Sterling Sims and Daniel Leitao gave them a 9-6 lead. Strong net play by the Royals kept the Bobcats on their heels, as block assist by Matthew Pilch and Riley Mulkey, who saw his first action in the blue and gold, helped Queens to a 13-10 lead. Lees-McRae would prove scrappy and cut the deficit and eventually take a 19-18 lead in the later part of the set, however Queens refused to give up. Four late errors helped the Royals keep the score close, until Queens were able to push three consecutive points late, capped off with a set-clinching solo block by Sims. 

Sims carried that momentum into the second set as he earned three points in a four-consecutive point span, earning two aces and a kill in the process. With the score knotted at seven, Leitao took the driver's seat and earned four of Queens' next six points, all with kills. The Royals continued to force the Bobcats into making errors which helped the lead increase to 18-12. Leitao stayed hot and earned three of Queens' next four points yet again to push the score to 22-14, and would eventually clinch the second set with an ace. 

Pilch began the third set with a pair of back-to-back kills to cut an early 2-0 deficit. Transfer setter Brian Schwob, who did a great job distributing the ball all night, eventually joined the scoring party with a pair of kills of his own, the second of which put his squad up 15-9. Lees-McRae would fight back to keep themselves in the match, however Queens refused to let the Bobcats gain the lead, as the match would eventually be taken thanks to a well-placed service ace by Brian Camacho who entered late. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• Daniel Leitao continues to pace Queens' offense, leading the way with 11 kills and adding three block assists. 
• In his first game as a Royal, Riley Mulkey managed an impressive .400 hitting percentage on the evening with five kills on ten attempts. He also added three block assists at the net. 
• Alongside Mulkey, Stirling Sims put together a nice performance at the net with four hard kills and 3 total blocks including one solo. He complemented that with game-high three service aces. 
• Brian Schwob continues to find his hitters well, totaling 26 assists and including three kills and tied with Matthew Pilch for team-high seven digs.

COACH'S WORDS
"It's always nice to get your first win at home" said head coach Jeremy Price. "We had a rough start last week but really turned it around with a clean performance tonight. We sided out upwards of 70% and if we can stay at that number, we'll have a fair amount of success this year. 

I really liked the work our middle did today. Stirling [Sims] was really good controlling the net and had a nice game leading the team behind the service line. Riley Mulkey getting his first start and his experience showed; he created a couple good serving runs for us and managed a really efficient day on offense hitting .400 which we'll take any day. Our serve-receive was also really good and allowed us to do what we wanted to do offensively. 

We look forward to getting back into the gym and working on increasing our offensive efficiency so we can attack as well as we pass."

NEXT UP
The Royals will stay in Charlotte and play host to Merrimack on Sunday, January 22 at 2 PM. 

SOCIAL MEDIA
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