Lourdes continued its success on Saturday afternoon with a pair of victories at Racer Gymnasium in Lima, Ohio as the Gray Wolves defeated Cornerstone in four sets before sweeping host Northwestern Ohio.
 
The 18^th-ranked Gray Wolves were 23-25, 25-17, 25-11, 25-20 winners over the Golden Eagles before improving to 25-0 on the season with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-15 triumph over the Racers.
 
"This was an important Saturday for us to get two wins," head coach Greg Reitz stated after the match.  "We didn't play well to start the Cornerstone match, but turned it around after the first set.  We played pretty well throughout against Northwestern Ohio."
 
In the first match of the day, Lourdes held an early 10-5 lead in the opening set before a 10-3 run by the Golden Eagles shifted the lead.  Lourdes battled back to retake the lead 21-19 only to see Cornerstone score six of the final eight points to earn the first set.  The second set was close for a while, as Cornerstone was within two, 18-16, before the Gray Wolves closed on a 7-1 run.
 
Lourdes never trailed in the third, as every Gray Wolf server scored at least one point on their serve.  Lourdes held the Golden Eagles to -.061 hitting in the set while taking the lead in the match.  After Lourdes took an early 4-1 lead in the fourth, Cornerstone went on an 8-1 spurt to take a 9-5 lead of its own.  The Gray Wolves fought back, using a 16-5 run to seize control on the way to the victory.
 
Molly Shonk (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley H.S.) led Lourdes with 19 kills and 20 digs while Ave Stout (Huntertown, Ind./Bishop Luers H.S.) added 11 kills.  Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) handed out 46 assists and added 10 digs to complete the double-double.
 
Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morell H.S.) tallied 19 digs, Stephanie Richards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) added 15, and Stephanie Ruffing (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty H.S.) chipped in 10 more as the Gray Wolves outdug the Golden Eagles 91-68 for the match.
 
Johanna Egerer, Megan Newhouse, and Chelsea Lake each had seven kills for Cornerstone (22-10, 12-6 WHAC) with Lake adding 16 digs, tops on the squad.
 
Lourdes wasted little time jumping out to the lead against Northwestern Ohio, scoring the match's first six points.  The Gray Wolves hit .389 with 18 kills in the first set in taking control.  In the second set an 8-2 run broke the set open, giving Lourdes a 23-15 lead.  The Racers closed to within four with four straight points before Lourdes finished the stanza.
 
A 7-1 run in the third set allowed Lourdes to build a 19-9 lead as the Gray Wolves completed the sweep.  Lourdes never trailed in a single set in the match, and hit .284 while holding the Racers to just a .109 clip.
 
Shonk again led the Gray Wolves with 15 kills and hit .565 while Ruffing chipped in 10 kills.  Birr handed out 38 assists and had 10 digs while Jimenez had a match-high 13 digs.
 
Nora Fa'atiga led Northwestern Ohio (14-21, 7-12) with nine kills and seven digs.
 
Lourdes (25-0, 19-0) will head home for the final three matches of the regular season.  The Gray Wolves will host Indiana Tech on Wednesday evening for Senior Night.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. at Tam-o-Shanter.