LAKE WALES, Fla - First week of conference matches and the Royals brought much energy to the Tuner Athletic Center. Two amazing and very close matches to kick off the AAC conference season. The Royals split this weekend against Truett McConnell and Webber International. 

February 9th the Royals faced off against Truett McConell to host their first home match of the season and the first match for the AAC conference. Truett came swinging with a couple of new faces that elevated their play enough to push the Royals to five sets.  The Royals however accumulated 23 missed serves and serving receiving below 1.6 average, struggling with first contact it allowed Truett to create chaos and make the upset of the season. The momentum from Truett was vaulted by Quentin Maddock in the fourth and fifth set, and in all sets Quentin had 28 points. In the fifth set the Bears were up by four, 6-10, seemed like the Bears were going to pick up their first conference win in history but James Method rallied four consecutive serves to tie the game to then be met by a closing performance by Quentin and Romone Rudolph. 

The following day, the Royals faced off against Webber Warriors. This match would define the season in the gap between possibly fighting for a title once again for the Royals or playing for bottom seed. To no surprise, the Royals managed chaos and shook the Warriors enough to cause concern. The Royals struggled on serve receive but with phenomenal defense and out of system ball handling by Blake Rosen and Imanol Davila the Royals prolonged every rally to extend the game. The score for the first set was open, 15-25, but the rallies were long as previously mentioned. The next two sets were decided by a small faction of two points each. 26-28 and 23-25. 

HIGHLIGHT PLAYERS: 
Quentin Maddock 
33 kills - 11 digs - 2 aces -  1 block 
Oscar Jaquez 
18 kills - 6 blocks 
Imanol Davila Morales 
75 assists - 13 digs - 2 kills - 2 block 
Romone Rudolph 
24 kills - 4 blocks - 2 digs 
Blake Rosen 
27 digs - 2 assists - 1 ace - 2.2 SR 

UP NEXT
The Royals will be continuing their homestand  as they take on Life University at the in the Turner Athletic Center on Friday, February 16th at 7pm.