Box Score
Lourdes saw the 2013 season come to a close on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves fell in five sets, 25-15, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-8 to eighth-ranked Saint Ambrose in the semifinals of the MAMVIC East Championships held at the Goodman Center in Chicago, Ill.
 
“It was a disappointing loss,” head coach Greg Reitz stated.  “We competed hard and battled back to force a fifth set.  Unfortunately we had a few errors at key times.  We made them play well to beat us though.”
 
The Gray Wolves feel behind early in set one, 11-4, and were not able to recover as the Fighting Bees hit .400 for the opening set to take an early lead in the match.  Lourdes had its best offensive set of the day in the second, hitting .296, and closed the set on an 8-4 run to even the contest.
 
The third set was tied at 18 before top-seeded Saint Ambrose scored three straight points, and then closed the set with the final three points to take a 2-1 advantage.  Lourdes battled back to force a fifth set as the Gray Wolves took an early 5-1 lead in the fourth and never surrendered the advantage the rest of the way, growing the lead to as many as seven points, 21-14.
 
Lourdes, the tournament's fourth seed, took a 3-1 lead in the final set before an 8-3 run by Saint Ambrose broke the set open.  The Fighting Bees then closed the match with the final four points to advance to Sunday's championship tilt.
 
Nick DiMarco (Torrance, Calif./South Torrance H.S.) closed his career at Lourdes with a match-high 17 kills and added 10 digs, while Trevor Lund (Laguna Hills, Calif./Laguna Hills H.S.) added 13 kills.  Steve Barcus (Mount Vernon, Ohio/Mount Vernon H.S.) handed out 46 assists offensively and also tallied 10 digs.
 
Brad Miller (Convoy, Ohio/Crestview H.S.) led the Gray Wolves with 11 digs while DiMarco and Julian Rivera (Bayamon, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) were each in on four blocks. 
 
Dan Dierking led Saint Ambrose (19-9) with 11 kills while George Langheld added 12 digs.
 
Lourdes finishes the season with a 15-11 record overall.