For the second straight day Lourdes swept Siena Heights at the NAIA Independent Group tournament in Chandler, Ariz., defeating the Saints 25-23, 25-22, 25-14 on Saturday to earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Invitational later this month.
 
"We played a strong match today," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We had to battle in the first two sets and played very well to end the match.  We passed much better today than we did last night, we served well, and we were able to control the momentum pretty well."
 
Both teams hit well in the opening set, with Siena Heights (16-11) swinging at a .441 clip with 16 kills and just one error while Lourdes hit .394 with 17 kills.  The Gray Wolves trailed 20-19 in set one, and the stanza was tied at 23 before Lourdes earned the final two points.
 
The solid offense continued in the second, as Lourdes hit a blistering .593 with 18 kills and just two miscues while the Saints hit .467 with 17 kills.  The Gray Wolves took the lead early in the stanza, but were never able to pull away until the final point.
 
In the third Lourdes hit .500 with just two errors while Siena Heights slowed down, with the Gray Wolves holding the Saints to just a .115 efficiency.  Lourdes scored the first four points of the set and built a 13-3 lead on the way to the championship.
 
Lourdes finished the match hitting .488 with Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) tallying a team-high 14 kills while hitting .545.  Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) added 13 more kills while swinging at a .500 clip while Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) added nine kills on 11 swings (.818).
 
Ryan Ferkel (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly H.S.) handed out 43 assists while CJ Rilveria (Kula, Hawaii/Kekaulike H.S.) recorded a match-high 13 digs defensively.
 
Tyler Hubbard-Neil led Siena Heights with 16 kills and seven digs.
 
Lourdes (19-7) will find out its pairings at the NAIA National Invitational on Sunday evening.  The event begins April 19 in Saint Louis, Mo.