FULLERTON – The Hope International men's volleyball team lost in straight sets to Cal Lutheran by scores of 25-16, 25-16, 25-12 on Tuesday at Darling Pavilion.

Jah'mi Jeter led the Royals (3-12) with eight kills and Alessandro Spendolini added seven. Sam D'Ambrosio handed out 23 assists and Hugo Gonzalez Gutierrez – playing at libero – totaled a team-best eight digs.

The Kingsmen (19-5) hit .338 (37-11-77) overall, while the Royals swung at a -.011 (25-26-90) clip.

HIU and CLU battled through eight ties early in set one. With the score knotted at 10-10, the Kingsmen posted an 8-1 run to create a seven-point advantage, helped by four HIU attack errors.

The Kingsmen maintained that seven point lead and closed out the set on an HIU service error and assisted block by Matthew Wilcox and Nathan Diaz, earning the 25-16 victory.

In set two, the Royals stayed close, trailing just 10-8. But Cal Lutheran scored three straight points to take a 13-8 lead and force an HIU timeout. HIU was in striking distance, and remained within three at 17-14. But CLU utilized a 6-1 run to break away to a 23-15 lead. Once again, the Royals had trouble keeping the ball inbounds as attack errors late in the set plagued them.

Aidan Godfrey posted the set-clinching kill for the Kingsmen to take another 25-16 victory.

HIU led 3-2 in set three and trailed just 7-6, but CLU notched four straight points – three on Tyler Linville kills – to grab a five-point edge and force another Royals timeout.

Jeter and Benjamin Antonio answered with kills for HIU to bring the score to 11-8. But a 6-0 Kingsmen run all but sealed HIU's fate as the home team trailed 17-8. Four of CLU's points during that run came as a result of HIU attack errors.

CLU scored the final four points to secure the 25-12 victory.

Linville topped the Kingsmen with 15 kills on .480 hitting.

HIU returns to action on Thursday in a GSAC battle at Soka. First serve is slated for 6:00 p.m. in Aliso Viejo.