CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Queens University of Charlotte men's volleyball team came out with a vengeance in the rematch against No. 14 Princeton this evening. Despite an aggressive first-set win from the Royals, the Tigers clawed back to a four-set triumph (25-20, 19-25, 17-25, 12-25).
In the first set, the Tigers claimed a 7-4 advantage before the Royals revved things into gear. A medley of blocks from Stirling Sims, Albert Warzocha, and Daniel Leitao put their squad in the driver's seat, propelling their lead to 12-11 after multiple Princeton miscues sprinkled in. The Tigers used the efforts of Nyherowo Omene and Ben Harrington to give Princeton some life, but the Royals pushed through to the 25-20 victory. Notably, Princeton put up seven service errors in the set alone, and the Royals were able to capitalize.
In the second, Princeton jumped ahead to a 6-1 lead in response. Jack Brinkman hoisted the Royals on the offense with a trio of kills throughout the set, but Princeton's solid .438 hitting percentage would hold off the Royals in a 25-19 triumph.
In the third set, Princeton and Queens exchanged points in a back-and-forth affair amounting in 11 tied scores and seven lead changes. The Tigers began to pull away at the 12-12 mark with the help of two service aces from Henry Wedbush and two consecutive swings from Harrington. Princeton used another scoring spurt late in the frame to catapult into a 25-17 finish.
In the final frame, the Tigers pieced together a match-high .611 hitting percentage and a zero-error effort on 11 kills and 18 total attempts to hold the lead for the full set. An evenly-distributed set of swings from Shaphar Grant, Matthew Pilch, Leitao, and Brinkman supported the Royals, but Princeton would eventually snag the fourth set by a score of 25-12.
POSTMATCH REMARKS FROM COACH PRICE
"It was good to take the first set especially since we had a chance in the first set the night before," Head Coach Jeremy Price said. "We put ourselves in the same position and we learned from last night. The turning point was in the third set when we were tied 12-12. They [Princeton] dominated the last half of the match. I thought our middles played extremely well [Sims, Grant] and were unstoppable. They made great block moves defensively and combined for 11 kills on two errors. We should probably get them the ball more."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Brinkman led the Royals with nine kills while Sims tallied seven and Pilch contributed six. Leitao led the dig and assist effort with nine and 25 apiece, while Albert Warzocha secured a team-leading four blocks.
Princeton outhit the Royals .400 to .100, with the Tigers claiming a total 50 kills against Queens' 33. The Royals out-dug Princeton 34-31 in the two-match series finale.
UP NEXT
Up next, the Royals face Charleston on the road on Friday, Jan. 12 for a 6 PM slated first-serve.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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