Box Score BELMONT, N.C. – The Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team (12-11, 4-2 IVA) notched their third consecutive win defeating crosstown rival Belmont Abbey (14-12, 5-6 CC) by a final score of 3-2 on Friday night. The victory propels the Royals over .500 as they complete the regular season series sweep over the Crusaders. The five-set match marks the sixth time this season that the Royals have gone into five sets as they are now 3-3.
The opening set saw the Crusaders jump out quickly to a 5-0 lead as the Royals stumbled early with three attack errors. Queens would settle in and respond with a 10-4 run and take the lead 11-9. The offenses would exchange points before Belmont Abbey went on a 6-0 run taking a late 20-15 lead. The resilient Royals would not go down without a fight as they put together an 8-3 surge to even the score 23-23, but a kill and a Queens attack error gave the Crusaders the first set 25-23. In the opener, Queens racked up 12 kills on a .240 hitting percentage while Belmont Abbey posted 11 kills on a .259 percentage.
Alike the first set, Belmont Abbey managed to gain a 5-1 lead quickly by capitalizing on four Queens errors. Throughout the early part of the set, every Royals brief rally was countered by a short Belmont Abbey run which helped the Crusaders maintain a lengthy advantage. Trailing 13-7, Queens went on a 9-2 run taking a 16-15 lead and forcing a Crusaders timeout. The Royals would not let up taking the second set 25-20 to even the score 1-1. In the second, Queens won the kills category 13-8 behind a .207 hitting percentage. The Queens net presence was evident in the set forcing the Crusaders into a -.036 hitting percentage and nine attack errors.
The third set was a tight battle early seeing 10 ties. All even 15-15, Queens would go on a 6-0 run to grab a convincing 21-15 lead late in the set. The Royals would close out the set 25-18 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. In the third, Queens hit .214 with 12 kills while again holding the Crusaders to a negative hitting percentage and just six kills.
In the fourth frame, both squads battled for the entire set as the largest lead of the set was just three. As the Royals looked to secure the victory, the Crusaders would not go away easy as there were 15 ties and four lead changes in the set. In the set, Belmont Abbey would hit a team-best .387 with 16 kills while Queens was held to a .257 mark and 15 kills. Through the first four sets, the Crusaders found success at the service line with eight aces.
In a decisive fifth set, the Royals got going early with a 3-0 run. A convincing 6-1 push would increase the Queens lead to 10-6 as they inched closer to victory.
Stirling Sims would secure the victory with back-to-back kills propelling Queens to victory on the road.
Daniel Leitao would tie the program record with a sensational 28 kills on 51 attempts.
Jack Brinkman would post a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs while
Ryan Cymbor would earn seven kills and 11 digs.
Brandon Grabow set up the Royals offense with 50 assists.
The Royals will remain on the road as the season winds down with a match at Mount Olive on Tuesday, April 5 at 6:00 p.m. The remaining four matches are on the road for Queens ahead of the IVA Championships which will be hosted by the Royals inside Curry Arena, April 22-23.
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