HONOLULU – Queens played some of its best volleyball early in Friday's match with No. 4 UC Irvine before ultimately suffering a four-set loss to the Anteaters on day two of the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Invitational. UC Irvine (7-3) won by a 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-10, 25-16) score after hitting above the .300 mark for the fifth time this season.
 
The first set was a back-and-forth affair early on with the score even at 13-all following a kill from junior Josh Bragg. The two sides continued to traded points as freshman Brandon Grabow once again evened the score, 16-16, with a kill of his own. However, a late 4-0 spurt for the Anteaters gave them a four-point cushion as they sealed the set decision with a double block.
 
In the second frame, Queens jumped out to an 8-4 advantage following a kill from junior JP Payne and held a lead as large as eight points on four different occasions. Despite a UC Irvine rally late in the set, a Payne kill gave Queens the win and evened the match. The Royals hit .303 in the second set and forced UCI into 10 hitting errors.
 
UC Irvine was in control from start to finish in the third set of action, coming away with a double-digit victory before overcoming an early deficit in the fourth set to take the match. The Anteaters were led by all-american outside Joel Schneidmiller who finished with 23 kills and a .618 hitting performance.
 
Junior Nic Cavallaro led the Royals' attack with 11 kills to go along with six digs, while fellow junior Tristan Santoyo followed with nine kills and six digs of his own. Bragg had six kills, seven digs and four total blocks in the contest and Grabow guided the offense with 31 assists.
 
Queens wraps up its road trip tonight with a match against No. 14 Concordia University (Calif.) at 9 p.m.