Box Score

In just year three of its collegiate volleyball program, Lourdes University continues to register program firsts and on Wednesday evening the Gray Wolves did just that, defeating Concordia (Mich.) 25-18, 25-16, 22-25, 25-18 at Tam-o-Shanter in the first round of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament.  The victory was Lourdes first in postseason play all-time.
 
With the win, the seventh-seeded Gray Wolves advance to the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon where they will face second-seeded Davenport (30-5), winners of 13 straight contests, in Livonia, Mich. on the campus of Madonna University.  Lourdes (14-17) enters the quarterfinals having won two straight and eight of its last 10 matches overall.
 
“All of our positions played well for us tonight helping us earn this victory,” head coach Greg Reitz stated after the match.  “Our set distribution was strong most of the night.  We gave up some runs of points with mental errors, but for the most part played well.  We're going to need to step up our performance even more come Friday.”
 
Lourdes jumped on top from the opening in set one as Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo H.S.) scored served the first six points of the contest for the Gray Wolves and Lourdes never looked back.  The hosts tallied held the Cardinals to .088 hitting in the set and never allowed Concordia to pull closer than three points the entire set.
 
Set two was more of the same from the Gray Wolves as Jimenez against served five straight points to give Lourdes an early 6-1 lead.  The Gray Wolves hit .341 in the set with just two errors against 16 kills, led by five from Katie McKenty (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame H.S.). 
 
“In the first two sets our hitting and distribution were about as good as they have been all year,” Reitz added.  “Katie McKenty had a really strong performance tonight with 15 kills and only one error in the match.”
 
Concordia, the tournament's 10^th seed, held off elimination in set three but not before the Gray Wolves tried to pull off a comeback.  The Cardinals built a 21-13 lead only to see the Gray Wolves pull within two, 22-20.  Allegra Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion H.S.) had two aces and Shelby Schuster (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) registered three kills during the 7-1 run, but it was not quite enough for Lourdes to finish off the sweep.
 
The Gray Wolves took control of the fourth set behind the serving of McKenty.  The freshman turned a 5-5 match into a 14-5 Lourdes advantage and the Gray Wolves never looked back.  McKenty had five more kills in the set while Amelia Horton (Milan, Mich./Milan H.S.) had four more in the middle to help lead Lourdes to the historic win.
 
Schuster led Lourdes with 16 kills while McKenty had 15 more and hit .326 for the match.  Horton and Ali Mass (Walbridge, Ohio/Tiffin Calvert H.S.) each had 11 kills, with Mass picking up the double-double with 17 digs as well.  For the match the Gray Wolves hit .209 as a team, Lourdes' fourth best night of the season.
 
Recknagel also had a double-double with 46 assists and 14 digs while Jimenez led all players with 25 digs in the contest.  Alyssa Pelish (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) added 14 digs as well.
 
Brittany Schmalzel led Concordia (17-23) with 11 kills while Jalissa Favors added 10 more.  Adrienne Kanitz handed out 38 assists and Ashley Maynard had a team-high 18 digs for the Cardinals.