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For the second straight day Lourdes suffered a setback at the 2015 NAIA National Championship as the Gray Wolves dropped a 25-19, 28-26, 25-22 decision to fourth-ranked Columbia (Mo.) at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
 
The loss ends the Gray Wolves' hopes for a national title, but Lourdes still has one final match remaining at the tournament.
 
"It was difficult to come away with the loss," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.  "Columbia is a quality team with a great deal of players that have high levels of experience.  We competed well at times, but against this type of competition, we need to play at our highest level consistently."
 
The Gray Wolves started slowly, falling behind 18-8 in the opening to the fourth-ranked Cougars.  Lourdes tried to battle back late, scoring five of the last seven points of the set, but still fell behind in the match.
 
Columbia built a 12-8 lead in the second before Lourdes began to battle back.  Back-to-back kills by Stephanie Ruffing (Columbus, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty H.S.) tied the set at 12, a stanza in which there would eventually be 13 ties.  The Gray Wolves continued to apply the pressure, and built a 23-20 lead following an error by the Cougars.  Lourdes had two set points which Columbia fought off, and the Cougars ended the extended set with a block and a kill.
 
"We seemed to fell out the situation in the first set," Reitz added.  "We had our chances in the second, but just couldn't close it, despite putting ourselves in a good situation."
 
In the third, the Cougars led 20-16 before Lourdes made one last run.  Three straight errors by Columbia, including a block by the Gray Wolves' Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) and Ave Stout (Huntertown, Ind./Bishop Luers H.S.), tied the set at 20.  The set remained tied at 22 before kills by Polina Severina and Penny Liu sandwiched a block that allowed the Cougars to pull off the win.
 
Ruffing led Lourdes with 10 kills while Molly Shonk (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley H.S.) added eight kills.  Stephanie Richards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) added seven kills and hit a team-high .250 as the Gray Wolves connected at just a .147 rate for the match.
 
Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) handed out 24 assists and led the defensive with nine digs.  Stout and Stef Comte (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame H.S.) had four blocks each for the Gray Wolves.
 
Penny Liu led Columbia (29-7) with 15 kills and 11 digs while Amber Graham added 11 kills.
 
Lourdes will look and the season on a high note on Thursday as the Gray Wolves face Mount Vernon Nazarene to close out the tournament.  First serve is set for 2 p.m. at the Tyson Events Center.
 
"We hope to come out and battle again tomorrow," Reitz concluded.  "We are playing a team from our region, and we want to get a win while we are here at the national tournament.  It's one more chance for us to play our best volleyball."