FORT WAYNE, IND. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team opened the 2020 season on Friday night, falling to No. 14 Purdue Fort Wayne on the road by a 3-1 (25-16, 25-21, 27-29, 25-18) score inside the Gates Sports Center.
Queens (0-1) and Purdue Fort Wayne (1-0) traded points early on and were tied at 4-all before the Mastadons went on an 11-5 run to stake a six-point lead. PFW extended its lead late in the set to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
Purdue Fort Wayne began the second set with a 3-0 lead as the Royals battled back and trailed by just one point following a kill from junior
Josh Bragg. Back-to-back Mastadon errors evened the score at 7-7 as a kill from junior
Nic Cavallaro gave the Royals their first lead of the night. PFW rebounded and eventually built a lead as large as five-points, 23-18, closing out the set for a 2-0 match lead.
The Royals would not go quietly in the final set of the night, hitting .452 as a team and fighting off four match points to steal the se. Despite being down 23-21, a kill from Bragg and service ace from junior
Tristan Santoyo evened the score at 23-all.
Clutch kills from Santoyo and fellow junior
Cody Nix kept the match alive as consecutive Mastadon errors gave Queens the set win. Santoyo and fellow junior
Aleksandar Perisic ended the frame with a double block of PFW's Kade Bontrager.
Momentum for Queens carried over into the fourth set as the Royals built a 9-5 lead early on. However, Purdue Fort Wayne turned in a 7-1 run to go ahead 12-10 and never trailed again, securing the match decision on a kill from Jon Diedrich. Diedrich led all players with 28 kills in the match and hit .438 from the outside.
Santoyo led the Royals with 14 kills and had seven digs and two service aces, while Nix finished with 10 kills and hit .750 from the middle to go along with four total blocks.
Cavallaro followed with nine kills and five digs of his own and freshman setter
Brandon Grabow totaled 31 assist and four total blocks in his first career match. Bragg led the defense with eight digs.
The Royals have a quick turnaround as they take on Ball State University tomorrow in Muncie, Indiana at 7 p.m.
