Photo by Aaron Suozzi

Lourdes University, ranked 10^th in NAIA, took NCAA Division I's 14^th-ranked team, IPFW, to four sets on Saturday evening before falling 25-15, 22-25, 25-18, 25-18 at Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
 
"I thought we played pretty well tonight," head coach Greg Reitz stated after the match.  "We were facing much tougher competition than we had all year.  All in all, everything about tonight was positive."
 
The Gray Wolves had an early 7-6 lead in the opening set before the Mastodons scored five straight points to take the lead for good.  Lourdes was within four, 15-11, before IPFW closed the set on a 10-4 run.  The Mastodons hit .533 in the stanza, committing just one error, while Lourdes was held to a .095 clip.
 
Lourdes never trailed in set two on the way to evening up the match.  An early 5-1 run by the Gray Wolves, keyed by back-to-back attack errors from the hosts, put Lourdes on top 8-4.  The Mastodons fought back with the next four points before Lourdes answered with five of its own.  IPFW would pull to within one six times down the stretch, but each time the Gray Wolves answered.
 
"I was really happy we took a set from them," Reitz added.  "We played very well in the second."
 
An early 7-5 lead in the third for the Gray Wolves disappeared with a 6-1 Mastodon run.  Lourdes fought back to within one, 13-12, before IPFW scored the next six points to take control of the set. 
 
IPFW took the lead 8-3 early in the fourth and hit .429 in the set to earn the win in the match.   Lourdes battled back late, closing to within two, 18-16, before the Mastodons scored seven of the final nine points.
 
Jo'Lon Clark (Compton, Calif./Long Beach Poly H.S.) led Lourdes with 14 kills while Frank Craig (Jacksonville, Fla./Englewood H.S.) added 13 more.  Julian Rivera (Bayamon, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) led the team with eight digs.  The Gray Wolves hit .143 as a team in the match, but were hindered by 19 service errors with just one ace.
 
"That's way too many service errors," Reitz commented.  "I could live with a couple that were close, but some weren't even close."
 
Alex Harthaller led IPFW (14-6) with 14 kills while Andrew Sellen added 11 kills for the Mastodons, which hit .245 for the night.  IPFW also tallied 14 blocks defensively.
 
Lourdes (15-6) had its four-match winning streak snapped with the loss.  The Gray Wolves will return to action on Tuesday evening to close out Great Lakes Conference play at Siena Heights.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the SHU Fieldhouse.