CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team won the night's opening set before ultimately falling 3-1 (18-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20) to crosstown rival Belmont Abbey College inside Curry Arena on Wednesday night.
 
Queens (4-15) suffered its fourth straight loss despite hitting .259 as a team. The Royals hit .400 in the first set of play, but declined in each succeeding set, while the Crusaders (9-6) hit .391 as a team, including above the .300 mark in the second and fourth sets of action.
 
The Royals controlled the first set of the match from start to finish before Belmont Abbey responded with a 7-3 run to open the second frame. Queens battled back to cut the deficit to a one-point margin on three separate occasions, but consecutive kills from Liam Maxwell and Carter Eck put the set away for BAC. Maxwell led all players with a match-high 22 kills and hit .333 from the outside to go along with 16 digs.
 
Queens held early leads in both the third and fourth sets, but the Crusaders found ways to rally for victories in each set to steal the match.
 
Sophomore Josh Bragg tallied a season-high 15 kills and a .273 hitting percentage with seven digs in the match. Fellow sophomore JP Payne followed with seven kills and a .583 hitting mark from the middle, while second-year player Aleksandar Perisic recorded six kills and hit .417 at the net.
 
The Royals return to action on Friday, March 15 as the team travels south to Tigerville, S.C. for a rematch with North Greenville University at 7 p.m.