The Johnson & Wales University men's volleyball squad dropped a hard fought 3-0 (22-25, 23-25, 22-25) decision to 12th ranked MIT in a non-conference contest at the Wildcat Center on Thursday evening. The loss snapped a seven match winning streak for JWU.

Johnson & Wales had three players in double-figures in kills as junior Ryan Kennedy (West Barnstable, Mass.), sophomore Brendan Baker (Providence, R.I.) and freshman Kanila Chang (Orlando, Fla.) each had 10 kills. Senior J.J. Bessette (Coventry, R.I.) notched a double-double with 29 set assists and a team-best 10 digs in the loss for the Wildcats.

Senior Alex Klein (San Diego, Calif.) paced MIT with a game-high 16 kills, seven digs and two blocks while sophomore Jordan Lucier (Torrance, Calif.) notched a match high 11 digs. Junior Brendan Chang (Laytonsville, Md.) recorded 28 set assists, three digs and three kills in the win for the Engineers.

The first set went back and forth early before MIT capitalized on a pair of JWU hitting errors to take the 11-6 lead and force a Wildcats timeout. JWU chipped away and was able to tie the set at 21-21after a solo blocks by Chang. MIT then closed out the set with a 4-1 run to take the 25-22 lead and a 1-0 advantage in the match.

MIT made it 2-0 with the 25-23 win in the second set. The Engineers led the entire set and had their largest lead of the set after a JWU attacking error made it 17-12. The Wildcats clawed back to within one as an MIT hitting error made the score 23-22. It wouldn't be enough, however as MIT held on for the win.

Yet another back and forth battle in the third set with neither team leading my more than four points the entire set. JWU held the 18-14 lead and forced the Engineers to call a timeout after a hitting error. MIT responded with an 8-2 run, capped by a kill from sophomore Martin Kruski (Aurora, Ill.) for the 22-20 lead. MIT then took the 25-23 victory to seal the 3-0 win.

With the loss Johnson & Wales drops to 9-2 on the year while MIT improves to 5-1 for the season. The Wildcats will return to action on Sunday, February 8th when they travel to Albertus Magnus for a GNAC contest starting at 1:00 p.m.