Lourdes opened play on Friday at the Boneyard Brawl in Georgetown, Ky., dropping the first match of the day to 25^th-ranked Columbia (Mo.) 25-13, 19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12 before posting a 25-12, 25-21, 25-21 victory against Taylor in the nightcap.
 
"We didn't start well against Columbia, but turned the match into a good battle," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.  "We were streaky at times and it cost us some points, which is something you can't do against good teams."
 
The Gray Wolves dropped the opening set as the Cougars tallied 14 kills against just two errors on the way to hitting .375 while Lourdes hit .000 for the stanza.  Columbia scored seven of the first eight points in the match and never trailed in set one.
 
Lourdes rebounded in the second, taking a quick 4-1 lead which grew to 13-6.  The Cougars pulled within three, 21-18, but the Gray Wolves were able to score four of the final five points.  In the third, there were 15 ties and six lead changes before Columbia finished the set with back-to-back kills.
 
Columbia built a 22-16 lead in the fourth, looking to close the match, but the Gray Wolves battled back.  Three kills by Lourdes and three errors but Columbia, plus a pair of Gray Wolf blocks allowed the comeback, forcing a fifth set.
 
Trailing 6-3 in the fifth, Lourdes scored four straight points to take the lead, but the Cougars responded with three straight points of their own to retake the lead, one they would not relinquish the rest of the match.
 
Molly Shonk (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley H.S.) led Lourdes with 13 kills and 18 digs while Genessee Tate (West Covina, Calif./West Covina H.S.) added 10 kills.  The Gray Wolves hit just .112 for the match.
 
Defensively, Lexie Curtis (Toledo, Ohio/Bedford H.S.) added 12 digs to go along with 12 assists for a double-double and Ave Stout (Huntertown, Ind./Bishop Luers H.S.) added six blocks while hitting .350.
 
Peiyi Liu led Columbia (18-11) with 20 kills, 22 digs, and hit .447 on the afternoon.  Columbia hit .216 as a team for the match and outdug Lourdes 84-71.
 
Against Taylor, Lourdes started strong all around.  The Gray Wolves hit .316 with 16 kills while limiting the Trojans to .000 hitting.  An 11-3 run allowed Lourdes to take a 16-7 lead and they never looked back.
 
The Gray Wolves trailed, nor was the set tied, in either set two or three.  Lourdes tallied 16 kills in each set to finish with 48 in the three-set match.  The Gray Wolves pulled in front 21-13 before the Trojans made a late run in the second, while leading 18-12 in the third before securing the win.
 
Shonk finished with 14 kills and 17 digs while Kristin Murrell (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) added 13 kills.  Stef Comte (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame H.S.) tallied 11 kills and five digs. 
 
Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) handed out 42 assists and added 14 digs while Angelica Dippold (Louisville, Ky./Mercy Academy) had 17 digs. 
 
Kelly Arnold led Taylor (18-12) with 10 kills while Alex Reel registered 19 digs.
 
"We played a pretty solid match from start to finish to bounce back from our earlier match," Reitz said.  "We were very sound defensively and took some aggressive swings."
 
Lourdes (21-5) will close out play in the Boneyard Brawl on Saturday.  The Gray Wolves face Campbellsville at 1 p.m. before battling eighth-ranked, and tournament host, Georgetown (Ky.) in a 4 p.m. contest.