Box Score
Trailing two sets to none on Wednesday evening, Lourdes battled back to post a thrilling five-set victory over Siena Heights 22-25, 19-25, 25-12, 25-17, 15-12 at Tam-o-Shanter to avenge two earlier losses this season to the Saints.
 
The victory is the third in a row for the Gray Wolves, who have won four of their last five contests overall.
 
“We really played well as a team tonight,” head coach Greg Reitz stated after the match.  “We haven't done that all year.  This is a great with for the program to pull off a victory like this.”
 
The opening set was tight throughout before three straight points by Lourdes gave the Gray Wolves a 20-17 advantage.  Five straight points by Siena Heights, four coming via Gray Wolf errors, helped the visitors rally though to take the opening set.
 
Siena Heights scored the first six points of set two and raced out to a 12-2 advantage.  The lead grew to 21-9 before Lourdes made a run, coming up just a few points short.  The Gray Wolves scored 10 of the next 12 points to pull within four, 23-19, before dropping the set and falling behind two sets to none.
 
“I thought we lost a bit of momentum early in set two, so for us to gain some back for set three was great,” Reitz added.
 
 After committing 19 attack errors in the first two sets, Lourdes committed just eight the rest of the way, helping aid the comeback.
 
The Gray Wolves took control of set three for the start, scoring the first four points on the way to building a 14-6 advantage.  The lead continued to slowly grow, as Siena Heights scored just three points on their own serve in the set while hitting -.065.
 
Lourdes again came out strong in set four, hitting a match-high .353 with 15 kills in the stanza.  The Gray Wolves took an 8-2 lead early and again allowed just three points off of Saints serves.
 
“Our defense was really good, but the biggest thing is we played as a team,” said Reitz.  “You could feel the passion on the court and the crowd really got into the match which we fed off of.”
 
In the decisive fifth set, Lourdes scored the first three points only to have Siena Heights close to within one, 6-5.  A small 6-1 run by the Gray Wolves opened the set up, but again the Saints battled back.  Three straight kills helped the visitors pull within 13-12, but back-to-back kills by Shelby Schuster (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) and Katie Bartlett (Toledo, Ohio/Northview H.S.) finished off the match.  Lourdes hit .333 in the final set as a team.
 
“Our hitting percentage got better as the match progressed,” Reitz added.
 
Ali Mass (Walbridge, Ohio/Tiffin Calvert H.S.) led Lourdes with 16 kills and 11 digs on the night for her second double-double of the season while Allegra Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion H.S.) registered her third consecutive double-double with a season-high 50 assists and 12 digs.  Amelia Horton (Milan, Mich./Milan H.S.) tallied 10 kills and four blocks while Alyssa Pelish (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) and Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morell H.S.) had 21 and 20 digs respectively.
 
“Not one player stood out tonight,” Reitz concluded.  “This was a collective team effort and we need this momentum to carry over into another big match next Wednesday.”
 
Lindsey Adams led Siena Heights (12-7, 4-4 WHAC) with 13 kills and 14 digs while Carly Tillotson had 12 digs and 38 assists.
 
Lourdes (10-16, 3-5) will have a week off before returning to action next Wednesday evening, traveling to Dearborn, Mich. to face the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. from the UMD Fieldhouse.