QUINCY, Ill. - Just a day after a tough five set loss at the hands of Queens University of Charlotte to open MIVA Conference play, the Hawks got another swing at the Royals, hosting the leagues newest member for an evening contest on Saturday (Feb. 3). 

QU took advantage of the opportunity to even the score with Queens, going the distance once again, this time coming out on top (25-23, 17-25, 22-25, 25-13, 15-10) to send the Royals home with the programs first MIVA loss.

With the win the Hawks start 1-1 in league play for the first time since the 2020 season when QU defeated #9 Purdue Fort Wayne on 2/15 to pull to 1-1. 

Set One

Queens scored the first point of the match followed by a kill from Roman Deryckere to even the score before a back-and-forth occurred until the 8-8 mark where QU took six-straight on kills from Aleksandar Sosa, Zackary Zdrojeski and a kill and two aces for Raje Alleyne to move out in front 14-8. 

The Royals narrowed the margin to only two at 19-17 before a three-point run from the Hawks on kills from Sosa and one of his match-high 22 for Alleyne along with an error replenished the lead to 22-17. QUC responded immediately with three points of its own. 

Shortly after at 23-22 Quincy, a kill from Zdrojeski and an error gave set number one to QU 25-23. 

Set Two

Quincy trailed 4-0 to start the second frame, but took four of five to follow pulling back within one at 5-4. Later in the set at 7-6 Queens sandwiched a three and four points runs around a QU point to jumped way out in front 14-7. 

Four of the next five went the Hawks way to cut it to 15-11 before the Royals took six of the next eight points to put them in the drivers seat 21-13. They went on to take the set 25-17 to even the match. 

Set Three

QUC took the first two points before QU responded by winning four of the next five to pull ahead 4-3 thanks to kills from Alleyne, Zdrojeski and two from AJ Goedheer. 

This set was an absolute battle from wire-to-wire with neither side holding a lead larger than two points until the 23-20 mark. Both sides traded time at the forefront but weren't able to create any separation until Queens finally found a chink in the armor in the waning moments of the frame. 

With a little room to work with, the Royals traded the final four points of the set to pull ahead two sets to one with a 25-22 win in the third. 

Set Four

The Hawks came out in the fourth set with a fire lit under them, taking a 6-3 advantage in the early going thanks to a kill from Deryckere along with errors as well as a kill and block for Goedheer. 

QUC fought its way back to trailing by only a couple points at 13-11 until Quincy took over with a seven-point rally to essentially run the Royals out of the set in a hurry at 20-11. 

Not satisfied with coasting to the win, the Hawks took five of the final seven points in a showing of complete dominance to force a fifth set for the second night in a row with a very convincing 25-13 blowout in set four. 

Set Five

QU was able to avoid the errors that shot down its comeback from the match prior, cleaning up the swings and only committing three errors in the final set. 

Queens hung around until the late stages of the set but never led once, as the Hawks remained solid heading down the stretch to open up an 11-9 advantage before taking four of the final five points of the match en route to a 15-10 set and 3-2 match victory. 

Next Up

The Hawks welcome McKendree University to Pepsi Arena for a Thursday evening (Feb. 8) MIVA showdown. First serve is slated for 7:00 PM