Cincinnati Christian Photo Gallery

Lourdes wrapped up play at the Lancer Classic on Saturday, sweeping Cincinnati Christian in the morning before downing Indiana-Kokomo in four sets in the afternoon at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center in Winona Lake, Ind.
 
The 22^nd-ranked Gray Wolves scored a 25-21, 28-26, 25-23 victory over the Eagles to begin the day before downing the Cougars 25-16, 23-25, 25-22, 26-24 to finish the tournament with three victories on the weekend.
 
Against Cincinnati Christian, the Gray Wolves battled through a tight opening set, which saw 14 ties and a pair of lead changes, before Lourdes scored four straight points after the set was knotted at 19.  The Gray Wolves limited the Eagles to -.038 hitting in the first set while swinging at a .333 clip, which helped Lourdes overcome six service errors in the set.
 
Lourdes jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the second after Lauren Norman (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman H.S.) served up six straight points, but the Eagles battled back, taking the lead 22-21.  The Gray Wolves were able to overcome the late deficit though, and closed the set out on a Norman ace.
 
Lourdes limited Cincinnati Christian (0-3) to .000 hitting in the third as well and were able to pull out another tight set after surrendering an early lead.  The Gray Wolves held a 17-11 advantage before the Eagles scored eight of the next nine points.  Again, Lourdes responded, tallying five of the next six points to retake the lead on the way to securing the match.
 
Emily Arnold (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview H.S.) led Lourdes with eight kills and hit .727 while Allie Hale (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.) had nine digs.  Cierra Martinez (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley H.S.) also was solid defensively, tallying eight blocks.
 
Lindsey Clements led Cincinnati Christian with seven kills while Caitlynn Pierce had 10 digs and 22 assists.
 
"We still played inconsistent volleyball this morning," head coach Greg Reitz said after the morning contest.  "Our serve and pass game has to be consistent.  He had runs of serving, but then followed that up with runs of errors.  We played pretty good defense, and passed fairly well, but still broke down at times."
 
In the afternoon against Indiana-Kokomo, Lourdes had three players post double figure kill totals while three players also recorded double-doubles 
 
Chelsea Lawrence (Palmdale, Calif./Highland H.S.) had 15 kills while Kristin Murrell (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) had a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs.  Tylar Roberson (Elkhart, Ind./Central H.S.) also recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs while Sarah Wisser (Schoolcraft, Mich./Schoolcraft H.S.) handed out 32 assists and had 13 digs.  Shannon Fischer (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) finished the match with 11 digs defensively.
 
Lourdes held Indiana-Kokomo (4-5) to just four kills in the opening set and a -.143 hitting percentage before the Cougars rebounded with a .211 hitting mark in the second to even the match.  The Gray Wolves combined for 28 kills over the final two stanzas to pull out a close match.
 
"It was really good for us to have to battle to get the win," Reitz said after the second win.  "We made some great scramble plays late in the match which keyed our victory.  We are beginning to play more like a team and that is a huge positive for us to take away from the weekend."
 
Lourdes (3-1) will host Indiana-South Bend on Wednesday evening in the Gray Wolves' home opener.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.