The Lourdes University men's volleyball team hit the road to participate in the Mid-America Men's Volleyball Intercollegiate Conference Tournament in Chicago, IL. at St. Xavier University. The Gray Wolves played the Cougars of St. Xavier in the first round matchup at 10am on Friday.
 
The first set belonged to the Cougars as they would out hit and out play Lourdes in winning the set 25-22. Lourdes finished with 10 kills on 25 total attempts. Nick DiMarco led the Gray Wolves with 5 of those kills and Pierce Stewart finished the set with 8 assists. Lourdes finished the set with 4 kills to the Cougars 2.5.
 
Twenty Five points would not be enough in the set as the Gray Wolves needed 28 points to win the set over St. Xavier 28-26. Lourdes and ST. Xavier each battled each other the whole way throughout with the biggest lead going to the Cougars at 21-18 before Lourdes stormed back to tie it up and eventually win the set making it one to one overall.  Lourdes finished the set with a .467 attacking percentage to .360 for St. Xavier.  Pierce Stewart finished with 16 assists in the set while 9 kills.
 
A back and forth set was the theme for set three as the Cougars took the set 27-25. The Gray Wolves jumped out 4-0 in the set before a small rally by the Cougars eventually tied things up midway through the set. The Gray Wolves had to rally late in the set just to tie it up and force extra points. Lourdes was defeated at the net in the set as St. Xavier finished with 6.5 blocks to 2 for Lourdes. Jeremy Wood led the Gray Wolves with 6 kills in the set while Pierce Stewart had 14 assists.
 
The Lourdes Gray Wolves won a much needed fourth set 25-19 behind 14 kills on 24 attempts for a match high .583 attacking percentage. High flying Zander Epps finished with four kills to lead the Gray Wolves while Pierce Stewart added 12 more assists to run him to 50 for the match. Lourdes held the Cougars to zero blocks for the set.  The win set up a fifth set with a race to 15.
 
The St. Xavier Cougars made it interesting but in the end the Lourdes Gray Wolves were just too powerful at the net with Frank Craig, Jeremy Wood, Zander Epps  and Nick DiMarco swinging kill after kill. Lourdes won the 15-12 to advance to the semi-finals.
 
Lourdes Nick DiMarco finished with 21 of the teams 73 kills for the match. Pierce Stewart finished with 58 of the teams 65 assists.
 
Lourdes moves on to play #2 ranked in MAMVIC and #1 seeded St. Ambrose University at approximately 4pm on Friday afternoon.