CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Senior JP Payne had a career-high 15 kills and hit .560 from the middle, but the Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team fell 3-2 (28-30, 14-15, 25-23, 27-25, 15-11) to crosstown rival Belmont Abbey College on Thursday night.
 
The Royals (1-5) returned home from a three-game road trip and started slow, trailing 11-5 early in the match forcing head coach Jeremy Price to call a timeout. Queen shook off the rust and rallied off four straight points to cut into the deficit, eventually taking a 16-15 lead on a kill from senior Tristan Santoyo.
 
Belmont Abbey (2-0) went back ahead by a 21-17 score, forcing the Royals to once again battle back and even the count at 23-all. Queens held the advantage three times down the stretch, ending the frame on consecutive kills from senior Josh Bragg and sophomore Brandon Grabow to claim an early 1-0 edge.
 
Momentum carried over into the second set for Queens as the Royals led by as large a margin as 13 points, 23-11, in cruising to a 2-0 match lead. Queens hit a staggering .458 in the set while holding Belmont Abbey to a .048 offensive performance.
 
The Crusaders flipped the script in the third set, hitting .364 to stave off elimination and keep the match alive. The fourth set of action once again went into extra points with Belmont Abbey rallying from a 15-10 deficit to claim a two-point win and force a deciding fifth set.
 
In the fifth set, the two sides traded the lead three separate times and found themselves tied on seven different occasions until Belmont Abbey ended the match on a 5-1 run to secure the victory.
 
Grabow flirted with a triple-double, finishing with career-highs of 49 assists, 11 digs and six kills while leading the Royals offense to a .248 hitting mark in the match.
 
Santoyo led the Royals with 19 kills, while fellow senior Cody Nix returned to the lineup with nine kills and six total blocks in the middle. Bragg had a team-high 12 digs on defense for Queens.
 
The Royals return to the road tomorrow with a trip north to Mount Olive, N.C. to take on the University of Mount Olive at 6 p.m.