Sixth-ranked Lourdes advanced to pool play at the NAIA National Invitational on Wednesday as the Gray Wolves defeated seventh-ranked Cardinal Stritch 25-23, 17-25, 25-21, 25-16 in the Opening Round at the Petty Sports and Recreation Complex in Saint Louis, Mo.
 
"We scrapped as a team and served well enough to get them out of system," head coach Greg Reitz said following the victory.  "Everything got cleaner as the match progressed."
 
The opening set was back and forth before Lourdes went on a 7-0 run behind the service of Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) to take the lead for good, 21-17.  The Wolves battled back, closing within one, 24-23, before a service error gave the Gray Wolves the opening set.
 
In the second, Lourdes led 7-3 early, but this time it was Cardinal Stritch that scored seven unanswered points to build a 14-9 advantage.  Lourdes hit just .094 in dropping the set while the Wolves committed just three errors to tie the match.
 
The Gray Wolves took the lead for good early in the third, scoring four straight points to build an 8-5 advantage.  Lourdes led by as many as five in the stanza, but Cardinal Stritch pulled within one late, 21-20.  Back-to-back kills by Zachary Hawkins (Dickinson, Texas/Dickinson H.S.) and Gebert allowed Lourdes to secure the win.
 
Lourdes led from the opening serve in the fourth set, pulling away midway through to secure the victory.  The Wolves hit just .059 in the final stanza while Lourdes had its best attacking set, hitting .359 as a team.
 
Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) led the way for Lourdes with 15 kills and hit .438 for the match while Hawkins added 14 kills for the Gray Wolves.  Ryan Ferkel (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly H.S.) handed out 46 assists and quarterbacked the offense to a .252 hitting percentage for the contest.
 
Defensively, CJ Rilveria (Kula, Hawaii/Kekaulike H.S.) registered 19 digs while Gebert had 10 more as Lourdes outdug the Wolves 62-56.  Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) was involved in six of the Gray Wolves' 10 blocks.
 
Feli Mello Oliveira led Cardinal Stritch (27-8) with 16 kills and hit .344, but the Wolves connected at just a .197 rate as a team.  Oliveira also added 14 digs to lead Cardinal Stritch.
 
With the win, Lourdes improves to 20-7 on the season, reaching the 20-win plateau for the third consecutive season.
 
"This was a good opening match for us," but it only gets tougher from here," Reitz added.
 
Lourdes will begin pool play on Thursday afternoon, facing top-ranked Grand View.  The first serve is set for 2 p.m. EDT.  The Gray Wolves will also battle third-ranked Park in pool play, facing the Pirates on Friday at 2 p.m. EDT.