THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.— Cal Lutheran men's volleyball came up just short as the Kingsmen fell to the No. 12 Endicott Gulls 3-2 on Tuesday night in Gilbert Arena. The scores of the match were 21-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-22, 11-15. 

The loss snaps a five-game win streak. The Kingsmen drop to 9-8 overall and now head out on the road for its next five matches. 

Patrick Rowe swatted down a team-high 14 kills and Justin Dietrich was next with 13. Dietrich tallied his kills while hitting with a percentage of .478. Andrew Reina and Brendan Ward added eight kills each. Reina and Rowe also added four and three service aces, respectively. 

Alec Bennett and Grant Nelson split time at the setter position. Bennett tallied 20 assists and added eight digs while Nelson recorded 19 assists and seven digs. 

Eli Moore led the defense with 10 digs and Rowe was next with Bennett and matched him with eight. Ward was everywhere around the net and tallied five blocks while Rowe added three more. 

Cal Lutheran hit with a .225 clip, but the Gulls bested them and recorded a .340 clip. The defense also stood out for Endicott as they tallied 63 digs compared to Cal Lutheran's 45.

Endicott took the first set 25-21 and the Kingsmen looked to bounce back in the second. With CLU down 5-4, the Kingsmen fired back with five straight points. Rowe and Reina recorded back-to-back kills, Rowe added back-to-back services aces and Dasmen Stewart capped off the run with a kill. The Gulls fought back and eventually tied the set at 21. Cal Lutheran scored four out of the next five points and took the second set with a score of 25-22. 

After the Gulls took the third set 25-15, CLU looked to answer again in the fourth set. Cal Lutheran was down once more, 18-16, as CLU put up another five-point run. Dietrich recorded two kills during the run and Reina added one more. The Kingsmen never looked back and won the set 25-22 and tied the match at 2 games apiece.  Cal Lutheran wasn't able to complete the comeback an Endicott won the fifth set 15-11 and took the match with a final of 3-2. 

The Kingsmen hit the road for the next part of their schedule and head to the east coast for a five-game road trip. Cal Lutheran gets things started at MIT on Monday at 3 p.m. PST. 

Box Score: EC 3, CLU 2
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Release by Ryan Jorgenson, Sports Information Director