CHARLOTTE, N.C.- The Royals took to the court to win tonight against Barton College in the first time hosting a conference tournament game since 2000. Queens University of Charlotte put the Bulldogs away in three with set scores of 29-27, 25-19 and 25-16. The win is the first conference post season win since the 2003 season when the Royals beat Limestone College 3-1 in Banner Elk, N.C.
With the win Queens advances to the Conference Carolinas quarterfinals. They will travel to Misenheimer, N.C., to play Pfeiffer University on Nov. 12. With the win they are now 8-22 overall and 7-22 in conference (this win does not go in the conference record). This is the more wins than the past three seasons combined.
The Queens win tonight can be attributed to strong passing by the entire team, but specifically Keatin McKenzie (Coral Springs, Fla., Cardinal Gibbons ) who was almost perfect with her passes tonight, and the Sarah Burt (Pensacola, Fla., Pine Forest). Burt, who was injured early in the season and wasn't expected to return this year, has made a comeback and contributed 35 assists tonight.
Offensively, freshman Brittany Harvey (Matthews, N.C., Sun Valley )had an impressive .363 hitting percentage with eight kills, zero errors and 22 total attacks. Her offensive stats are the best since Oct. 22 when she hit .400 against Pfeiffer.
The first set tonight was rather even most of the way through with the largest lead for either team being four points. The Royals eventually pulled it out for the 27-25 win.
In set two Queens used the momentum from the first set to jump out to an eight point lead, 10-2, off of strong serving from McKenzie. Barton was able to slowly chip away at the lead, but the closest they came was 24-18. Queens sealed the set with a McKenzie kill off of a Barton blocking error.
The Royals did not waiver in set three. The front line made up of Burt, Harvey and Veronica Arenander (Cincinnati, Ohio, Walnut Hill )was strong, letting few ball through and the back line of Natalie Weiner (Greensboro, N.C., Page ), Tamalea Pierce (Asheboro, N.C., SW Randolph )and McKenzie had quick feet and let few balls hit the floor. The team played smart, passed strong and put the ball down every chance they got.
McKenzie tied for her season-high three aces. She also had 13 digs and Pierce had the team-high 17 during the night. Arenander recorded 14 kills.
The loss ends Barton's season. The Bulldogs were led by Melissa Ritter with 14 kills and defensively Stacy Way and Meagan Parrott each had one solo block and three block assists.
This is the second time Queens has emerged victorious over Barton this season.
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