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Lourdes opened up the Saint Xavier/Trinity Christian Crossover on Friday with a pair of wins at the Shannon Center on the campus of Saint Xavier.  The Gray Wolves scored a 25-12, 25-17, 25-18 victory over Spring Arbor in the opening match before downing Saint Xavier in thrilling, come from behind, fashion 12-25, 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12 in the night contest.
 
Lourdes picked up its first victory of the season in the opener with the sweep of Spring Arbor. The Gray Wolves scored seven of the first nine points in the opening set.  Lourdes led 13-9 when Angie Pagan-Perez (Toa Baja, P.R./Bayamon Military Academy) served up back-to-back aces as part of a 7-0 Gray Wolf run to break the set open.  Lourdes limited the Cougars to just two kills in the opening set and a -.263 hitting percentage in the stanza.
 
Spring Arbor took an early 9-5 lead in the second before a 7-1 Lourdes run put the Gray Wolves on top for good.  Leading by two, 16-14, Pagan-Perez sparked a late 5-1 run from the service line to give Lourdes a 2-0 lead in the match.  Lourdes hit .345 as a team in the stanza, and junior libero Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morell H.S.) passed the 1,000-dig mark for her career midway through the set.
 
"I thought we served aggressively early to take them out of their system," head coach Greg Reitz stated.  "Our setters connected well with our pin hitters and we were much more efficient on the outside than we were last week."
 
Pagan-Perez's serve early in the third set again spearheaded the Lourdes offense.  With Spring Arbor on top 6-5, the Gray Wolves rattled off five straight points.  The Cougars fought back and tied the set at 12 and the teams traded sideouts until the set was tied at 15.  Jimenez served up an ace that sparked a 6-0 run, putting Lourdes on top for good, securing the victory.
 
Lourdes hit a season-high .239 for the match with Pagan-Perez and Carolyn Manley (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.) leading the way with eight kills each.  Mallory Lenhart (Lambertville, Mich./Bedford H.S.) handed out 14 assists while Lexie Curtis (Toledo, Ohio/Bedford H.S.) added 13 more.  Jimenez led the defense with 11 digs for the match.
 
"I thought we put together a pretty solid match, especially after being off from competition for a full week," Reitz added.
 
Olivia Landis led Spring Arbor (1-4) with four of the team's 13 total kills for the match.  Gabrielle Hilliard led the Cougars' defense with nine digs.  Spring Arbor hit -.046 for the match.
 
Lourdes had to rally from a set down to score a road victory over the host Cougars in the nightcap.
 
The Gray Wolves fell behind quickly in the match as Saint Xavier hit .400 and had four aces in the opening set while taking advantage of five Lourdes service errors.  The Cougars led 8-6 before scoring 10 consecutive points to seize control.
 
Saint Xavier raced out to an 11-6 lead in the second stanza before Lenhart spearheaded an 8-0 Gray Wolf run from the service line.  The Cougars fought back, and tied the set five times down the stretch, but Lourdes never surrendered the lead.  Back-to-back kills by Manley and Katie McKenty (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame H.S.) closed the set for the Gray Wolves, evening the match at one.  After hitting just .182 in the opening set, Lourdes hit .303 in the second.
 
Lourdes took the lead with another thrilling victory in the third.  The Gray Wolves raced out to a 6-1 lead and maintained an 18-12 advantage before the Cougars came storming back.  Five straight points by the hosts pulled the Cougars within one and Saint Xavier eventually tied the set at 19, 21, and 23.  Stephanie Richards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) put the Gray Wolves on top with a kill, and a block for the final point gave Lourdes the 25-23 victory.
 
In the fourth set it was the Cougars that earned the 25-23 victory after 13 ties and seven lead changes.  Five straight points put Lourdes on top 14-10 before Saint Xavier responded with five straight of its own to retake the lead.  The Cougars built a 19-15 advantage before Lourdes answered with an 8-3 run to take a 23-21 advantage.  Three straight Cougar kills followed by a Lourdes error forced the decisive fifth set.
 
The Gray Wolves took the lead quickly in the final set, scoring five of the first six points before taking an 8-4 lead into the changeover.  Saint Xavier fought back, tying the contest at nine before Richards tallied three straight kills to put Lourdes on top for good.  Her sixth kill of the fifth set ended the match.
 
Richards led the Gray Wolves with 17 kills and 18 digs on the night while McKenty added 15 kills.  Lenhart handed out 39 assists to go along with 18 digs while Jimenez had 14 digs as well in the victory.
 
Saint Xavier (2-3) tallied 18 service aces and took advantage of 16 Gray Wolf service errors, 10 in the first two sets, to stay in the match.  The Cougars were led by Meghan Falsey and Marie Hackert, both of whom had 11 kills.  Erica Harris tallied a team-high 14 digs.
 
"This match was a solid win on the road against a quality opponent," Reitz commented.  "We were down big after the first set and scrapped our way back into the match, winning a lot of long rallies.  We served much more efficiently over the final three sets."
 
Lourdes (2-4) will travel to Palos Heights, Ill. and the campus of Trinity Christian on Saturday afternoon for day two of the Saint Xavier/Trinity Christian Crossover.  The Gray Wolves will face Saint Francis (Ill.) at 11 a.m. EDT before battling Mount Mercy at 3 p.m. EDT.