Lourdes flipped the results on day two of the Moulten Invitational held at the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa, as the seventh-ranked Gray Wolves posted a pair of four-set wins on Saturday.
 
The Gray Wolves defeated Benedictine at Mesa 25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21 in the morning match before closing play with a 25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 25-21 triumph over Culver-Stockton to atone for a pair of setbacks on day one Friday.
 
In the opener against Benedictine, the two schools split the opening two sets.  The Gray Wolves hit .286 in the opener with 14 kills and just four errors while holding the Redhawks to just .083 hitting.  The results were flipped in the second, as Lourdes swung at a .100 clip while Benedictine improved to .212.
 
Lourdes was very efficient offensively in the third to take the lead in the match, hitting .406 with just one error.  The success carried over to the fourth, with the Gray Wolves committing just two miscues in the final stanza to earn the win.
 
"It was a solid team performance overall," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We reduced our errors a bit and gave ourselves a chance to win."
 
Zachary Hawkins (Dickinson, Texas/Dickinson H.S.) and Colby Magorien (Agoura Hills, Calif./Westlake H.S.) led the way for Lourdes with 12 kills each as the team hit .276 for the match.  Ryan Ferkel (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly H.S.) handed out a team-high 22 assists.
 
Defensively, CJ Rilveria (Kula, Hawaii/Kekaulike H.S.) led the Gray Wolves with 17 digs while Ian Fields (Phoenix, Ariz./Sandra Day O'Connor H.S.) registered 11 more digs, despite Benedictine finishing with a 61-50 edge in digs for the match.
 
"We didn't pass well for much of this match, but we played a little better defense than we have been," added Reitz.
 
Nic Gibson led Benedictine (4-2) with 19 kills and 13 digs and the Redhawks finished the match hitting .175.
 
Lourdes came out blistering offensively against Culver-Stockton, putting down 18 kills on just 26 swings in the opening set to post a .577 hitting percentage, and built an early lead in the match.  The Wildcats evened the match hitting over .300 in the second while forcing 10 Gray Wolf errors.
 
The Gray Wolves pulled out a pair of close wins in the third and fourth sets, hitting over .200 in each stanza while holding Culver-Stockton to .097 and .133 hitting respectively.
 
"We served and passed much better this match," Reitz commented.  "When those skills broke down a bit we struggled and lost the set.  We were efficient in the middle and that helped all the other positions."
 
Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Ohio/North Allegheny H.S.) hit .611 with 14 kills while Magorien added 14 more kills and swung at a .375 clip.  Magorien was named to the All-Tournament Team for his efforts on the weekend.
 
Ryan Maune (Washington, Mo./Saint Francis Borgia H.S.) and Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) both added 10 kills for the Gray Wolves as Lourdes hit .281 for the match as a team.  Fields handed out 27 assists and Ferkel had 24 in the victory.
 
Defensively, Maune registered five blocks while Rilveria had 16 digs as Lourdes outdug Culver-Stockton 39-29.
 
John Echel led Culver-Stockton (3-8) with 12 kills while Zach Blasgen had a team-high 11 digs.
 
Lourdes (5-3) will remain on the road next Friday as the Gray Wolves travel to Chicago, Ill. to face Saint Xavier.  The opening serve is set for 8 p.m. EST at the Shannon Center.