Lourdes battled its third NAIA top-three ranked team in four days on Thursday afternoon, but the sixth-ranked Gray Wolves fell in four sets 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 27-25 to top-ranked Grand View at the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"Today was similar to the last three matches we have played," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We just needed to make a few extra plays and we could have one.  We made some errors at bad times and ended up losing a close match."
 
Grand View (16-3) hit .385 for the match, tallying 64 kills in the four sets.  Lourdes managed to hit .556 in the third set with 18 kills, and finished the day hitting .318 overall, but was unable to overcome four Vikings with double figure kill totals.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) and Colby Magorien (Agoura Hills, Calif./Westlake H.S.) each tallied 16 kills for the Gray Wolves with Gebert hitting .419 on the day.  Ryan Maune (Washington, Mo./Saint Francis Borgia H.S.) added 12 kills while Ryan Ferkel (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly H.S.) handed out 43 assists.
 
Defensively, CJ Rilveria (Kula, Hawaii/Kekaulike H.S.) registered 14 digs for Lourdes, but the Gray Wolves were outdug 52-46 for the match.
 
Pedro Cardoso led Grand View with 16 kills while Adrian Faitalia tallied 16 digs.
 
Lourdes (13-7) returns home next Friday evening, March 17, looking to snap a three-match losing skid as the Gray Wolves host Saint Xavier.  The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.