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Lourdes began defense of its back-to-back Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament titles on Wednesday evening with a hard fought 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 25-22 victory over Aquinas in the quarterfinals held inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The Gray Wolves had to battle from behind late in each of the three sets they won to eliminate the fifth-seeded Saints.
 
"It was a great win in which we had to battle to survive," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.
 
Lourdes, the tournament's fourth seed, trailed 22-19 in the opening set before scoring six of the final seven points to rally win.  Kristin Murrell (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) began the comeback with an ace, Tylar Roberson (Elkhart, Ind./Central H.S.) had a pair of aces, and the Gray Wolves took advantage of three Aquinas miscues for the final three points.
 
Aquinas (19-13) went on an 8-2 run midway through the second set to build an 18-12 advantage while hitting .256 in the stanza on the way to evening the match.
 
The Saints seemed poised to take a 2-1 lead in the contest after building a 20-15 lead in the third.  Behind the serve of Roberson and Riley Kelly (Whittier, Calif./Saint Paul H.S.), Lourdes came storming back, scoring 10 of the final 11 points to seize the win.  Genessee Tate (West Covina, Calif./West Covina H.S.) had three straight kills before a pair of aces by Kelly lifted the Gray Wolves to the win.
 
"We were able to make a push late and stole the momentum back after the third set," Reitz added.  "We really had to battle to win the third set."
 
Lourdes carried the momentum into the fourth set, scoring the first seven points on the serve of Jami Markus (Oregon, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.), including a pair of aces.  With the Gray Wolves leading 10-2, Aquinas began to slowly climb back, scoring six of the next seven points.  The Saints eventually took a 21-20 lead, but Lourdes was able to regain the momentum behind back-to-back kills from Roberson and Emily Arnold (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.).  A kill by Tate and a dump by Markus secured the victory, allowing Lourdes to advance.
 
"We started to get complacent after getting the big lead," Reitz added.  "However, we were able to get back to playing sound volleyball at the end and made some big defensive plays."
 
Tate finished with a career-high 22 kills, hitting .283 on the evening to lead the Gray Wolf offense.  Chelsea Lawrence (Palmdale, Calif./Highland H.S.) added 12 kills and hit a team-high .294 while Roberson chipped in 10 kills.  Markus handed out 43 assists as Lourdes hit .168 for the match.
 
Roberson finished with a double-double, adding 21 digs defensively while Angelica Dippold (Louisville, Ky./Mercy Academy) had a team-high 25 digs.  Murrell and Shannon Fischer (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) each added 16 digs as Lourdes finished with a 93-89 edge in that category for the match.  Arnold was involved in six of the team's nine blocks.
 
Kylie Christensen led Aquinas with 16 kills and hit .306 while Marisa Spetoskey tallied 32 digs.
 
With the win, Lourdes (20-10) reached the 20-win plateau for the fourth time in the last five seasons and the fifth time in program history.  The Gray Wolves advance to Friday's semifinals, when Lourdes with battle top-seeded, and 16^th-ranked Madonna on the Crusaders' home floor.  The action is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. inside The Activities Center in Livonia, Mich., with the winner earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.