Box Score
Lourdes went toe-to-toe with the 12^th-ranked team in NAIA on Saturday afternoon in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, but was unable to pull out the upset, falling 25-18, 20-25, 25-23, 25-16 to Georgetown (Ky.) at Davis-Reid Alumni Gym in Georgetown, Ky.
 
"I'm so proud of our performance out there today," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.  "It's tough to lose, but we made them play well to beat us.  It's a pretty impressive feat for us to get to this point in our very short program history which says a lot about this group of young women."
 
Georgetown opened the match hitting .385 in set one while racing out to a quick lead.  The Tigers led 16-6 and still held a 10-point lead at 23-13 before Lourdes began to claw back.  Lourdes scored five out of six points, fighting off three set points before falling 25-18.
 
The Gray Wolves led from start to finish in the second set.  Lourdes scored four of the first five points and built a 10-6 lead.  Georgetown came back to tie the set at 11 and 14, but would never forge in front.  A service ace from Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morrell H.S.) helped Lourdes score three straight points to retake the lead.  The Gray Wolves extended the advantage to six and eventually won the set to even the match after a Tiger attack attempt went long.
 
"We did a good job of pressuring them and it was great to take a set off of them," Reitz added.  "I thought we did a good job of keeping it close most of the match."
 
Lourdes had to fight back again in the third.  Georgetown led 13-5 but the Gray Wolves did not give up.  Three straight attack errors pulled Lourdes to within two at 20-18.  With the Tigers on top 23-20, the hosts committed a service error and an attack error before a kill by Stephanie Richards (Toledo, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) tied the set at 23.  Back-to-back kills by Georgetown though allowed the Tigers to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Tigers scored the first four points of the fourth set and never allowed Lourdes to claw back this time.  An 8-2 run by Georgetown allowed the nation's 12^th-ranked team to build a 20-12 lead and they would hold to advance to Sioux Falls, Iowa and pool play in the NAIA National Championships.
 
Angie Pagan-Perez (Toa Baja, P.R./Bayamon Military Academy) led Lourdes with 15 kills while hitting .256.  She also tallied 11 digs on the defensive end of the floor.
 
"Angie played extremely well," Reitz stated.  "For her to put up those numbers against a team that is as big as Georgetown is quite an accomplishment.  They were a very good team that we competed against."
 
Jimenez added a match-high 23 digs for the Gray Wolves while Allegra Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion H.S.) handed out 36 assists.
 
Caraline Mahar led Georgetown (33-9) with 13 kills while hitting .333 and Rachel Eubanks added 11 kills.  Courtney Grafton added 23 digs.
 
Lourdes season comes to a close with a 21-13 record, matching the school record for victories in a season.