Lawrence Tech Photo Gallery
Clarke Photo Gallery

Lourdes opened its home season on Friday hosting the Lourdes Invitational, and the Gray Wolves split a pair of matches, defeating Lawrence Tech while falling to ninth-ranked Clarke at Tam-o-Shanter.
 
The seventh-ranked Gray Wolves scored their second victory in three days against Lawrence Tech, defeating the Blue Devils 25-17, 25-23, 25-14 in the afternoon before dropping a 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20 decision to Clarke in the final match of the night.
 
"It was good to come away with a win," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We cleaned up our serving and ball control as the match progressed.  There were times our offense looked smooth."
 
In the first match, Lourdes started slow, falling behind 11-8 to Lawrence Tech.  A 6-1 run by the Gray Wolves put the hosts in front for good, and a 9-1 spurt helped finish off the set.  Lourdes hit .414 in the opening stanza.
 
Lourdes had to play from behind in the second set as well.  The Gray Wolves trailed 10-5 before responding to take a 12-11 advantage.  The Blue Devils answered though, retaking the lead, and held a 22-20 edge late in the set.  Lourdes closed with five of the final six points, taking advantage of three Lawrence Tech attack errors, to build a 2-0 lead in the match.  The Gray Wolves hit .000 in the set, but held the Blue Devils to a -.033 clip.
 
The Gray Wolves took control early in the third, and an 8-2 run opened up a 20-10 lead as Lourdes finished off the sweep.  Lourdes hit .400 in the final set to finish the match at .267 while holding the Blue Devils to a -.069 clip in the final stanza and a .000 hitting performance for the contest.
 
Brendan Brown (Pittsburg, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) hit .769 with 10 kills on 13 swings to pace the Lourdes offense while Garrett Jones (Las Vegas, Nev./Las Vegas H.S.) added nine kills.  Ryan Ferkel (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly H.S.) handed out 32 assists while CJ Rilveria (Kula, Hawaii/Kekaulike H.S.) tallied a team-high 10 digs.
 
Haykel Chala led Lawrence Tech (0-2) with 10 kills and seven digs.
 
Clarke took control early in the opening set of the nightcap, coring five straight points to take a 12-7 lead, and never allowed the Gray Wolves to get closer than three the rest of the stanza.  Lourdes hit just .029 in the first set.
 
The second set was tied at 13 before four straight points by the Crusaders put the guests in front for good.  Lourdes fought back, cutting the deficit to one four times, but was never able to tie the set.  Both teams hit over .300 in the second, with Clarke posting a .312 hitting percentage and Lourdes finishing at a .324 clip.
 
Lourdes extended the match with a victory in the third set, holding Clarke to just a .097 hitting percentage.  Three straight points with the set tied at 17 put Lourdes in front for good.
 
The fourth set had 10 ties and five lead changes before Clarke finished the match with an 8-3 run.  The Gray Wolves committed eight attack errors in the stanza.
 
"I was disappointed we didn't play well enough to win tonight," Reitz said afterwards.  They are a good team and were better than us on this evening.  We didn't play at a high enough level consistently and had too many hitting errors."
 
Jones led Lourdes with 12 kills in the match while Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) added 11 more as Lourdes hit .156 for the night.  Ferkel handed out a team-high 24 assists while Rilveria notched 23 digs.
 
Isaiah Acfalle led Clarke (2-0) with 20 kills and hit .375 while Joe Biros added 17 kills and 14 digs.  Joshua Phalen finished the match with 17 digs for the Crusaders.
 
Lourdes (2-1) will close out play in the Lourdes Invitational on Saturday with two more matches.  The Gray Wolves will face 10^th-ranked Robert Morris (Ill.) at 2 p.m. before entertaining Siena Heights at 6 p.m.