The most successful season in Lourdes volleyball history came to a close on Thursday afternoon as Lourdes picked up its first victory at the NAIA Volleyball National Championship finals site with a 26-24, 20-25, 25-22, 25-18 win over 24^th-ranked Mount Vernon Nazarene at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
 
The 17^th-ranked Gray Wolves finished the campaign 33-2 overall, setting a new school record for victories.
 
"It feels good to finish the season with a win," head coach Greg Reitz said following the match.  "This match was more representative of our season than the first two matches we played here."
 
Lourdes had to play from behind in the opening set, rallying late for the victory.  The Gray Wolves trailed 23-20 before battling back to win the set following three straight kills from Stephanie Richards (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.), Ave Stout (Huntertown, Ind./Bishop Luers H.S.), and Stephanie Ruffing (Columbis, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty H.S.).  Lourdes hit .326 with 17 kills in the opening stanza.
 
In set two it was the Cougars that used a late run to earn the victory.  Leading 19-18, Mount Vernon Nazarene scored four straight points to seize control, two coming via blocks and a third with an ace.
 
The Gray Wolves jumped in front early in the third set, and built a 17-11 lead.  The Cougars closed to within four times down the stretch, but were never able to get any closer as Molly Shonk (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley H.S.) put down a kill to give Lourdes a 2-1 edge in the match.
 
The service of Carolyn Manley (Holland,Ohio/Springfield H.S.) and Michi Jimenez (Vega Baja, P.R./Juan Quirindongo Morell H.S.) allowed Lourdes to use a 14-1 run to build a 17-7 lead in the fourth.  Mount Vernon Nazarene closed to within three, 21-18, before Manley served out the set with Ruffing collecting the match-winning kill.
 
Ruffing led Lourdes with 19 kills and hit .457 for the match while Shonk added 18 kills and 21 digs to collect her 16^th double-double of the year.  Stout hit .476 with 12 kills and Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) handed out 56 assists in the win.  As a team Lourdes hit .312 with 65 kills.
 
Defensively, Jimenez had a match-high 23 digs to finish her career with a school-record 2,143 over her four seasons as a Gray Wolf.  Stout had five blocks and Ruffing was involved in four for Lourdes.
 
"It was great to finish on a positive note for Michi," Reitz concluded.  "She's been an important part of our program for the last four seasons, and has set the bar high for her position at Lourdes."
 
Annelise Rohrer led Mount Vernon Nazarene (34-4) with 19 kills and 16 digs while Kristen Osborn added 17 kills.  As a team, the Cougars hit .285 for the match.
 
"Our offense was solid all day," Reitz added.  "We still gave up way too much to them defensively though."