On Friday evening the Lourdes University Gray Wolves hosted the Wolves of Cardinal Stritch University for a doubleheader in MAMVIC matchup. The Cardinals came into the match as the seventh ranked team in NAIA. The Wolves would defeat the Gray Wolves both matches.

Game 1

The first set would be a back and forth match early on with Cardinal Stritch jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead before the Gray Wolves would get a help from a kill chance that would go wide.  The  Lourdes Gray Wolves match would stay close until the Wolves would kick it in gear from a 6-5 advantage to an 11-5 advantage in a matter of seconds. The Gray Wolves would stay determined following a coaches timeout and quickly of their own put a run together behind solid defense to take a 14-13 lead. Lourdes would take their biggest lead of the match at 19-16. Cardinal Stritch would fight back for a moment drawing it to 21-19 Gray Wolves until Lourdes would make it a four point lead at 23-19. Frank Craig would get a big kill following a Cardinal Stritch point to make it 24-20. Cardinal Stritch would make a run at it but Lourdes would be too much winning the first set 25-23.

The Gray Wolves momentum would not carry into the second set as much as they would have liked. The Wolves of Cardinal Stritch would take the set 25-18 behind solid defense and execution on offensive chances. The Gray Wolves ended the set with more chances but just were not able to execute their opportunities in a row.

The third set would start out with a quick 3-3 tie. The tie wouldn't stay for long though as Cardinal Stritch would take a 9-5 lead.  Lourdes would fight back though to take the lead 12-11 and then 13-11 before causing a Cardinal Stritch University timeout.  Things would tighten back up once again at 16-16. Four straight points though by Stritch would put the Gray Wolves in a hole 18-22 before Nick DiMarco would come up with a big kill to cut the lead back to three.  The Wolves of Cardinal Stritch would win the set 25-21 to take a two sets to one lead.

Lourdes would start out trailing in the fourth set 6-3 before starting the comeback to take their first lead of the set at 10-9. The score would remain tied at 11, 12 and 13 before the Wolves would take a 13-15 lead. Lourdes would take a timeout down 14-17 to try and regroup in the set. The Gray Wolves would fall behind 19-16 but would battle back to within one at 19-18 following a service error and a Jeremy Wood kill. The Gray Wolves would keep the hammer down as they would get the next three points to take a 21-19 lead. Ian Davis would come up with a huge block to score for Lourdes and take a 22-19 lead.  Things would get close with Stritch fighting back to within one at 23-22 but a failed block on an Ian Davis kill would give Lourdes a 24-22 lead.  Lourdes would take the set 25-23 in exciting fashion forcing a fifth and decisive set race to 15.

Lourdes would find themselves in hole early in the fifth set trailing 2-3. Cardinal Stritch would then run off four straight points to take a 7-2 lead before Lourdes would score again to make it 3-7. Lourdes would take a timeout midway through the set trailing 4-10. Facing a set and match point 7-14 the Gray Wolves would fight back to make it 10-14 leading to a Cardinal Stritch timeout. The Gray Wolves would fight valiantly throughout the set but just not be able catch enough breaks and would drop the set 10-15.
Cardinal Stritch would win the match 3 sets to 2 to improve to 6-2 overall while the Lourdes Gray Wolves would fall to 1-3 overall and 1-3 in MAMVIC play.
 
Game 2
Set one would start out well for Cardinal Stritch as they would jump out to 6-2 lead. The lead would continue into the middle of the set with Lourdes taking a timeout trailing 13-7.The Wolves of Cardinal Stritch kept the peddle down as the set continued taking a 20-10 lead for their biggest of the day so far at that point. The Wolves of Cardinal Stritch would dominate set one winning 25-13.

Lourdes would finish the set with nine kills to Cardinal Stritch eight. Lourdes though would commit 10 errors to Strich zero.

Lourdes would come out with more intensity in the second set taking an eight to six advantage. Lourdes would maintain a one point lead at 12-11. The score would tie up at 12, 13, 14and 15 before Cardinal Stritch would take a two point lead at 17-15. The Wolves would build a four point lead at 16-20 before Lourdes would fight back with three straight points to make it 19-20. While the Gray Wolves would battle in the set the final result would go the way of Cardinal Stritch 25-22.

Service errors would once again plague the Gray Wolves in the set as they would commit four costly ones while Cardinal Stritch committed two. Lourdes would finish the set with a .290 percentage after 17 kills on 31 attempts with eight errors. For CSU they would finish the set with a .381 percentage on 11 kills out of 21 total attempts and three errors.

Set three would start out all Wolves for Cardinal Stritch as they would take a quick 5-2 lead. The lead would grow to six for Cardinal Stritch at 11-5 before Lourdes would reel off back to back points to make it 11-7. Lourdes would fight back at the midway point of the set as they trailed 12-15. The Gray Wolves would put a four straight point run to cut the lead down to two at 18-20. The Wolves of Cardinal Stritch would win the set 25-21.

Lourdes falls to 1-5 overall and in MAMVIC play.

Next up for the Gray Wolves is Robert Morris College on Saturday at 3pm in the Sylvania Tam-O-Shanter.