BEVERLY, MASS.—A four-game swing in Massachusetts was ahead of the Illinois Institute of Technology men's volleyball team, who kicked-off the trip at No. 14 Endicott College on Friday evening. Easton Kays erupted for a season-high 17 kills for the Scarlet Hawks in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21) loss to the Gulls.

Illinois Tech falls to 1-4, 0-0 NACC while Endicott improves to 7-2, 0-0 NECC.

Kays came out of the gates in set one with five quick kills, which gave IIT their first advantages of the game at 9-8 and 10-9. Both teams traded the lead four times in the opening set, where things went down to the wire with a 22-22 score before Endicott iced the set with a 3-0 run that included two kills and a service ace. The Scarlet Hawks scored 11 of their 22 points off errors in the 25-22 loss in set one.

The Gulls capitalized on 11 combined Scarlet Hawk errors in set two, where they registered a 25-14 win. IIT led for most of the opening stages of set three, with the latest occurrence at 13-12 before a combined seven errors doomed them in a 25-21 loss. 

Kays' 17 kills included a .323 hitting percentage, which engineered a Scarlet Hawk unit that mustered a .103 figure as a team. Jannik Birkholz tallied 21 assists while Derek Bostick paced the defense with seven digs. IIT didn't record a block in the match. Endicott was efficient with a .368 hitting mark, led by Donovan Dey's 11 kills and Chad Riorden's 21 assists.

IIT will return to action tomorrow, Saturday, February 8 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they'll face Elms College at 1:30 p.m. (CT), and host school MIT at 4:00 p.m. (CT).