CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Queens Royals (3-12, 0-3 ASUN) pieced together an impressive comeback, but fell just short in five sets (14-25, 18-25, 25-21, 28-26, 15-11) to the Stetson Hatters (8-8, 3-1 ASUN) on Sunday afternoon in the Levine Center.
The Royals struggled to put their offense into gear in the first set, falling to a 12-kill performance from the Hatters to result in a 25-14 defeat.
Queens found a spark in the second set, battling the Hatters through six tied scores and nine lead changes. Stetson scored the first two points of the set, but a Kayla McDuffie kill from a solid assist from Kendall Buish got the Royals on the board. Stetson bounced back with two consecutive kills, but a block from Anna Law and Victoria Wood kept the Royals' momentum strong.
That momentum soon pushed the Royals to their first lead of the day as a kill each from Alleigh Johnson and Jordyn Johnson, a service ace, and a Stetson error gave Queens a 6-5 advantage. The two sides would battle back-and-forth — with a J. Johnson kill putting the Royals at an 18-16 lead. Stetson would soon open up a nine-point scoring run and hold the Royals at a scoreless standstill to finish out the set, 25-18.
Queens fired on all cylinders in the third set. Wood drove home back-to-back kills, J. Johnson sank a service ace, and a double block from Law and Wood would give the Royals a 4-0 lead. Buish was placing her sets in all the right places, giving room for her hitters to catch the Hatters off their feet. Stetson would never find a lead in the set, giving Queens a 25-21 victory.
"I felt like we got into the flow of our offense really well in the third," Head Coach Hannah Long said. "Our passing was great, and Kendall [Buish] was really delivering the ball so we could use a variety of hitters."
Neither team went down without a fight as the fourth set was a back-and-forth affair once again — with another nine even scores and three lead changes. The Royals produced their best hitting performance of the day in the fourth with a .435 from 21 kills off 46 attempts and only one error. Jesse George's mobility on the floor for digs, Buish's ball placement, and the quadruple threat of Wood, McDuffie, J. Johnson and A. Johnson was the recipe for a 28-26 hard-fought win for the Royals to force the fifth set.
Queens jumped to a 2-0 lead in the final set before crucial blocks from Leilani Vitale and Anabelle Standish gave Stetson a new 3-2 life. Two Hatters errors would put the Royals back in the driver's seat before the Hatters would snag another point off a Standish kill. Soon, the Royals would find themselves at a 8-5 lead led by the efforts of McDuffie on the attack. Their lead would soon be snagged away as a four-point Hatters run paired with a later two-point spurt from consecutive Amaris Carter kills would give the Hatters an 11-9 lead. The Hatters would maintain the lead to finish out the match, claiming a final 15-11 fifth set victory.
J. Johnson finished with a team-leading 17 kills while Wood (13), A. Johnson (12) and McDuffie (12) joined her in the double-digit kills club.
Wood and Law added three blocks each to lead the Royals. Wood also tabbed 14.5 points, good for a season-high marker.
As a team, the Royals marked season highs in kills (65), assists (59), and points (74.0). Buish tallied 52 of the total 59 assists for the squad, marking a career-high for the junior.
Up next, the Royals head to Jacksonville to take on the Dolphins for ASUN action on Oct. 6. First-serve is slated for 7:00 PM.
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