Box Score
Lourdes University posted its third straight victory and fifth in its last six matches on Wednesday evening, closing out the 2013 regular season with a 25-16, 24-26, 25-16, 25-10 Senior Night victory over Concordia (Mich.) at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
"We did what we needed to in order to finish the regular season strong," head coach Greg Reitz stated after the victory.  We played solid volleyball and now we need to make sure we are ready for the conference tournament next week."
 
Keyonna Gregory (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.) paced the Gray Wolves with 20 kills and hit .314 while Stef Comte (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame H.S.) added 16 kills while hitting at a .375 clip.  Angie Pagan-Perez (Toa Baja, P.R./Bayamon Military Academy) also had an outstanding night hitting with 15 kills and a .345 hitting percentage.
 
"Angie, Stef, and Keyonna all had really nice nights offensively for us," Reitz added.  "Stef and Angie did a great job of serving as well."
 
Comte had five service aces, four in the final set, while Pagan-Perez added four more aces.  In all, Lourdes tallied 10 service aces on the night.  Allegra Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion H.S.) handed out 54 assists and also registered 16 digs, a match high, while Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morrell H.S.) added 14 digs.
 
"Allegra had a solid night, not only with her assist totals, but also digging 16 balls," Reitz concluded.
 
The Gray Wolves broke open a tight first set, in which they were leading just 13-12, by scoring 12 of the final 16 points behind the serving of Jimenez and Alyssa Pelish (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.).  The Cardinals kept set two tight, forcing 14 ties before finally scoring the first two points to even the match.
 
Recknagel served the first seven points of set three, and Lourdes took advantage of five straight hitting errors to take control of the set.  Concordia battled back to within one, 13-12, but again the Gray Wolves went on a late run, scoring 10 of the last 13 points.
 
In the final set Lourdes held Concordia to just four kills and a -.095 hitting percentage.  Stephanie Richards (Toledo, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) and Comte combined to score 10 of 11 points from the service line, including the ace barrage by Comte.  Pagan-Perez closed out the match with two aces on the final three serves as Lourdes registered six aces in the final set.
 
Brittany Schmalzel led Concordia (15-19, 1-10 WHAC) with eight kills while Julia Szuba tallied 16 digs defensively.  Autumn VanKirk hit .583 with seven kills on 12 swings for the Cardinals as well.
 
Lourdes (18-11, 5-6) will return to action next Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves host a match in the first round of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament beginning at 7 p.m. at Tam-o-Shanter.  The Gray Wolves' opponent will be announced later this week when the WHAC releases all of the tournament pairings.