CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the third time this season, junior Tristan Santoyo posted more than 20 kills in leading the Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23) victory over North Greenville University. The win over the Crusaders is the first for Queens in the program's young three-year history.
 
Santoyo registered 25 kills from the outside and hit .622 to go along with nine digs for Queens. Junior middle JP Payne followed with nine kills and a .615 hitting performance, while freshman setter Brandon Grabow had 41 assist and seven digs. Junior Josh Bragg led the defense with 13 digs and freshman Guillermo Jordan totaled eight digs on the back row.
 
Queens cruised to a first set win behind a .333 team hitting performance while the defense held NGU to -.059 hitting in the frame. Payne led the Royals to nine straight service points during the set and gave Queens its largest lead of 17-4 midway through.
 
North Greenville responded by hitting above the .300 mark in the second set to even match score at 1-all, before the Royals rallied for wins in the third and fourth sets.
 
The Royals opened the third set with an 11-6 run, but the Crusaders used six unanswered points to gain a 12-11 lead. The advantage changed hands when Queens took advantage of a North Greenville setting error that sparked a 6-1 run to put Queens in front 20-15 before Payne ended the set with a kill.
 
Queens held an advantage more much of the final set, leading 22-20 until a brief spurt from North Greenville evened the score at 22-all. The match was tied once again at 23-23 before a Santoyo kill and Crusader hitting error gave the Royals the match win.
 
On Friday, January 31, the Royals begin a four-game road trip starting with a 7 p.m. matchup with the University of Charleston (W. Va.) in Charleston, West Virginia.