Box Score

Lourdes fought off three match points in set four and took control early in the fifth against #20 Davenport on Friday evening, defeating the Panthers 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 30-28, 15-10 in the quarterfinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament held at The Activities Center in Livonia, Mich.
 
The win was the Gray Wolves first ever against a nationally-ranked opponent in 12 tries.  Lourdes previously had won just one set all-time against top-25 programs.  The Gray Wolves have now matched the longest winning streak in school history with five straight victories as well.
 
"This is the biggest win in program history so far," head coach Greg Reitz stated after the win.  "It was great to see us perform as well as we did against a team that we didn't play well against in the regular season."
 
Lourdes, the tournament's seventh seed, hit .295 in the opening set, committing just one attack error.  After Davenport won the opening point, Allegra Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion H.S.) served four straight, part of a 5-0 run that put the Gray Wolves on top.  Davenport closed to within one at 7-6 before Lourdes pushed the advantage back to four.
 
Davenport, the second seed, tied the opening set at 14 and took the lead on the next point as part of a 4-0 run.  Lourdes fought back, and neither team held a lead of more than one point until the set was tied at 23 as 11 ties and seven lead changes took place during the latter part of the set.  Angie Pagan-Perez (Toa Baja, P.R./Bayamon Military Academy) hammered down a kill to force set point and Recknagel added her second ace of the set to close it out.
 
"After winning set one, we knew what we had to do," Reitz commented.  "We gained a lot of confidence early."
 
Set two saw the Panthers hit .296 to even the match.  Davenport raced out to a 9-4 lead only to have Lourdes claw back and take the lead at 13-12 following a 9-3 run in which Stephanie Richards (Toledo, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) registered four kills.  The teams traded sideouts until Davenport retook the lead at 17-16, one that they would not relinquish the rest of the set.  With the stanza tied at 18, the Panthers scored seven of the final nine points.
 
The third set had a similar feel to the second in that Davenport pulled away late.  There were 16 ties as neither team could take a lead of more than one point for the longest time.  With the set tied at 17, the Panthers scored four consecutive points to take the lead for good.  Lourdes hit just .103 in the stanza in suffering the setback.
 
Lourdes had to rally in the fourth set to keep its season alive. The Gray Wolves fell behind 8-5 early before clawing back.  Back-to-back kills by Pagan-Perez gave Lourdes the lead at 11-10 and the teams then began trading points.  There were 16 ties and eight lead changes in the set with the Gray Wolves having to fight off three match points.  Trailing 28-27, Lourdes got a kill from Pagan-Perez to tie the score and, after a Davenport ball handling error, Sam Dibert (Hartland, Mich./Hartland H.S.) put down a kill to force the decisive set.
 
"Not one person stood out today," Reitz added.  "Sam had some big swings late in the match.  Our outsides came up big and our middles did their job."
 
The Gray Wolves did not commit an attack error in the final set, hitting .280 with seven kills.  After the teams traded points early, Lourdes tallied four straight points off of Richards service to build a 7-4 advantage.  Davenport cut the lead to one at 8-7, but would never tie the set the rest of the way.  A bad set by the Panthers at match point sent the Gray led Lourdes with 19 kills and a .333 hitting percentage on the night while Pagan-Perez added 17 kills.  Dibert tallied 12 more from the outside while Keyonna Gregory (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.) put down 10 more in the middle.
 
"Not committing an error in set five won us the match," said Reitz.  "We didn't give them any free points."
 
Recknagel handed out 56 assists to go along with16 digs and four aces.  Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morell H.S.) registered a match-high 24 digs while Alyssa Pelish (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) added 14 more digs.
 
As a team Lourdes hit .200 for the match, outblocked the Panthers 8-6, and registered seven service aces without surrendering one on the other end of the floor.
 
"We were aggressive offensively and served and passed well," Reitz concluded.  "We battled better than have all season.  Our serve receive was unbelievably strong.  We've been working all season on our ball control and passing and it paid off tonight."
 
Olivia DenHartigh led Davenport (31-10) with 15 kills and 13 digs while Hannah Stone added 14 digs.  The Panthers hit .214 as a team for the match.  Lexie Spetoskey led the Panthers defensively with 21 digs.
 
Lourdes (20-12), winners in nine of their last 11 matches overall, advances to Saturday's semifinals, where the Gray Wolves will face the winner of the Cornerstone-Siena Heights quarterfinal.  First serve is slated for 12:30 p.m.