HARROGATE, TENN. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball was unable to avenge an early-season conference loss to Lincoln Memorial University, falling 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23) to the Railsplitters on Thursday night inside Mary Mars Gymnasium.
 
The Railsplitters (8-6, 3-0 IVA) went ahead early in the opening set, but the Royals continuously closed the gap to keep the set close. Queens (4-13, 2-2 IVA) twice got within a point of tying the match at 20-19 and 23-22 but a LMU service ace ended the rally.
 
Queens continued its run into the sect set of action, gaining an 8-4 lead thanks in large part to six unanswered points. LMU went on a 7-2 run in response to take the lead. The Royals hit .407 in the frame to earn the victory and tie the match at 1-all.
 
The Royals struggled offensively in the third set, hitting just .095, in a losing effort. The fourth and final set saw more back-and-forth action as the frame was tied at 23-all following a kill from sophomore Tristan Santoyo.
 
However, LMU's Jordan Walley and Evan Cory finished the frame with consecutive kills to once again end a Queens comeback effort. Cory led all players with 22 kills and hit .354 to go along with eight digs and seven total blocks.
 
Santoyo registered a season-high 18 kills from the outside, while fellow sophomore JP Payne tallied nine kills and a .571 hitting mark in the middle. Senior setter Alexander Schinzing finished with 37 assists and seven digs and sophomore Ruben Greenstein had a match-high 10 digs.
 
The Royals finish their road trip tomorrow with a match against King University (Tenn.) in Bristol, Tenn. at 7 p.m.