Ty Hurdle and his Queens University of Charlotte Men's Volleyball teammates fought out an early first-set 28-26 win over McKendree, but eventually fell in four sets (28-26, 22-25, 19-25, 31-33) in MIVA action.
The first set featured an early kill by freshman Chance Shampine to get things started for Queens. Ruben Emmerich put down a block to get ahead by a 2-0 score, but McKendree would soon creep their way back into the lead with a service ace and a few Queens miscues. Queens would take advantage of multiple McKendree errors and use the strengths of Shaphar Grant on the block to pace the squad in a back-and-forth affair to take the set into extra points — and a late jolt from Brinkman and Emmerich would finalize the 28-26 victory.
In the second set, McKendree would just barely edge out Queens University in a 25-22 victory thanks to a 15-kill frame. Despite the loss, Queens would piece together a 14-kill frame of their own but would suffer five errors in 31 attempts.
In the third, McKendree found a groove and held Queens to only eight kills — while the Bobcat squad was able to put up 13. A mid-set run sparked by Tyler Poulsen would catapult McKendree up by six, 22-16, and would hold out until the final 25-19 score.
In the fourth, Queens wouldn't go down without a fight as both sides of the net battled point-by-point. In their longest drawn-out set of the season, kills on both sides would give McKendree and Queens University multiple shots at a match point — but neither side refused to let up. It would take a solid McKendree block and a final kill from Nikos Xydakis to finalize the lengthy 33-31 triumph.
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