CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Queens University of Charlotte women's volleyball team concluded the 2023 regular season in a match against Eastern Kentucky. Before the match began, the Royals honored four seniors: Grace Giunta, Victoria Wood, Kelise Twyner, and Anna Law as this was the final match of each of their Royals careers. Ultimately, the Colonels were victorious in three sets as they improved to 21-7 overall and 11-5 in conference play to finish the regular season. The Royals finished with records of 4-24 overall and 1-15 in conference play.
SET BY SET
The first set began with both teams trading blows as an attack error by the Colonels tied the score at four apiece. However, the Colonels immediately went on a 6-0 run after this attack error as they took a 10-4 lead in the first set which forced the Royals to take their first timeout of the match. The Colonels held onto a sizable lead the rest of the set as they finished with the 23-13 score. Grace Giunta led the way with three kills in the set while Kendall Buish had a strong set with three assists, a kill, and a service ace. This was the first set since Giunta recorded three or more kills since she recorded 15 kills against Anderson on Nov. 16, 2021.
Similar to the first set, the second set began with Eastern Kentucky jumping ahead early and forcing the Royals to take a timeout with a 10-4 deficit in the set. This time, however, the Royals responded with a run of their own as they outscored EKU 6-2 to soon cut the deficit to 12-10. In the end, the effort wasn't enough for the Royals as they fell 25-19 in the set. Alleigh Johnson had a strong set with four kills and a service ace as she led the team with five aces up to this point.
The third set was controlled by the Colonels as they took a 15-8 lead into the media timeout and took the set 25-15.
TURNING POINT
After dominating the first set and controlling much of the second set, Eastern Kentucky seemed to be controlling the match with a 17-12 lead in set two. However, the Royals went on a 4-0 run, including a service ace from Alleigh Johnson, which forced EKU to take their first timeout of the match with a slim 17-16 lead in set two. However, the Colonels found their rhythm after the timeout and took the set 25-19 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
COMMENTS FROM COACH LONG
When asked about the impact of Queens' four seniors, Coach Long spoke on their perseverance. "The seniors began their years here at such a challenging time. Their freshman year was during the pandemic, their sophomore years held uncertainty over COVID, and then their junior year we made a huge transition to Division I," Long said. "For them to stay positive and to keep working to improve — it is a credit to them as people more than anything else."
KEY STATS & NOTES
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In her Senior Day match, Grace Giunta recorded a season-high with seven kills as she recorded three in the first set alone.
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Anna Law had a strong match with seven kills and a .875 hit percentage as well as two blocks and two digs
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Victoria Wood recorded seven kills to finish the season with 156 overall and 117 in conference play
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Kendall Buish led the way with 27 assists to finish the season with 786 overall and 450 in conference play
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Kelise Twyner recorded three digs to finish her senior season with 20.
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Alleigh Johnson led the Royals with 10 digs to finish the season with 214 overall and 93 in conference play.
The Royals finished out their second year in Division I, the 2023 season, with a 4-24 overall record and look ahead to the 2024 season to ring in their third year in the Atlantic Sun.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to follow the Queens Women's Volleyball team on Twitter and Instagram to get the latest news and updates. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to keep up with all the Royals in action.
