SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – Hope International men's volleyball concluded its trip to the midwest with a four-set loss to No. 7 Lawrence Tech on Monday at Don Ridler Fieldhouse.

The Royals fell by scores of 25-8, 25-14, 21-25, 25-18 to drop to 0-4 on the season. The Blue Devils improved to 3-0.

Jah'mi Jeter led the Royals in kills for the fourth straight match. He tallied eight to go along with three blocks and two digs. Travis Donahue and Hugo Gonzalez Gutierrez added six kills apiece. 

Benjamin Antonio posted 17 assists and was one of three Royals with a team high five block assists.

HIU had its best blocking performance of the season, outblocking Lawrence Tech 11.0-7.0. Donahue and Sean Seaman also had five block assists.

The Royals endured a rough first set as utilized an 8-1 run to open up a 13-3 lead. LTU led 22-6 following a 6-1 run and closed out the 25-8 win following two HIU attack errors. LTU hit .562 (10-1-16) in the set, while HIU struggled to -.300 (3-9-20) efficiency.

In set two, HIU fell behind 7-1 – and a 5-0 Blue Devil run opened up a 16-5 cushion. HIU trailed by double digits for a majority of the set, briefly getting to within 22-13 on an Ethan Davis service ace. But LTU's Yegor Volkov sealed the 25-14 victory with a solo block.

The Royals battled in set three and took the 25-21 triumph, hitting a match-high .423 (12-1-26) in the process. The Royals built a 4-1 lead thanks to their block, with Seaman assisting Antonio, Jeter and Alistair Namsinh for three of those points.

Namsinh fired off an ace to give the Royals an 8-3 lead. HIU built an 11-4 lead following a 5-1 run, and extended the advantage to 15-7 as Jeter notched back-to-back kills.

HIU held off a late LTU rally, as the hosts scored four straight points to pull within 21-17. Donahue finished the set with a kill.

The Blue Devils raced out to an 8-2 lead after scoring five straight points to begin set four. They built a 16-6 advantage following a 4-1 run, forcing an HIU timeout. The Royals scored five of the next seven points to whittle the deficit to 19-12, but could not threaten any further.

Noah Lippman ended the match with a kill, as the Blue Devils hit .360 (14-5-25) in set four.

LTU hit .391 (50-16-87) for the match overall.

The Royals take a break from action and return to the court on Tuesday, February 17 at Jessup, with first serve scheduled for 7:00 p.m.