Lourdes defeated Menlo in four sets on Friday evening before dropping a straight sets match to Quincy to open play at the Judson Early Bird Tournament held inside the Lindner Fitness Center in Elgin, Ill.
 
The Gray Wolves took the opener from The Oaks 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 before dropping a 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 decision to the Hawks in the nightcap.
 
In the opener against Menlo, Lourdes raced out to a 9-2 lead in the opening set, taking advantage of five errors from the Oaks.  Menlo battled back, using a 7-2 run to start a comeback.  The Gray Wolves maintained the lead though, 18-20, before three straight points by The Oaks put Menlo in front for the first time in the match.  The stanza was tied at 22 when three straight kills gave The Oaks the early lead in the match.
 
Set two had 15 ties and seven lead changes before Lourdes came away with the win to even the match.  Hugh Flores (Chicago, Ill./Lincoln Way West H.S.) capped the set with one of his two service aces in the match.
 
Lourdes never trailed in the third set, but had to withstand a late Menlo rally to take the lead in the match.  Leading 10-8, the Gray Wolves scored eight of the next 11 points to push the lead to seven.  The Oaks were able to close within two, 22-20, but Lourdes responded to secure the win.
 
The Gray Wolves jumped out to another big lead in the fourth set, 14-5, and still led by nine late, 21-12.  Menlo tried to make a run, closing to within four before the Gray Wolves secured the victory.
 
"I thought we had to battle in the first, but made some tactical changes to slow things down and it worked," head coach Greg Reitz said following the first contest.  "We served and passed well, and despite making a setting change because of sickness, we were able to keep our rhythm."
 
Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) led Lourdes with 14 kills and nine digs while Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) and Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) added 13 and 11 kills respectively.  Matt Mittry (Tustin, Calif./Calvary Chapel H.S.) hit .583 with eight kills and added six blocks.  Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) tallied a team-high 11 digs.
 
Akash Dhothar led Menlo (2-5) with 21 kills and hit .444 while Pedro Almeida tallied 16 digs.
 
Against Quincy, the Gray Wolves allowed the Hawks to hit .387 for the match, including .500 in the opening set.  Quincy hit .500 with just one error in the opening set while limiting Lourdes to a -.042 mark.  With the Gray Wolves trailing just 10-8, Quincy went on an 8-1 run to break the stanza open.
 
Lourdes hit .423 in the second set, but it was not quite enough.  In a set that had 12 ties and four led changes, the Gray Wolves committed two of their three attack errors in the set on the final two points to allow Quincy to take a 2-0 match lead.
 
The Gray Wolves again hit negative (-.077) in the third, but kept the set close most of the way.  Trailing 19-18, Lourdes committed four straight attack errors that allowed Quincy to pull away after the set saw 14 ties in it.
 
 "We did not hit efficiently enough to push this team to more sets," Reitz said after the finale.  "We didn't pressure them enough with our off play and they capitalized on that."
 
Gebert led Lourdes with 11 kills in the second match while Ubior had seven digs.
 
Anthony Winter led Quincy (4-2) with 16 kills and hit .762 in the victory.
 
Lourdes (2-4) closes out play in the Judson Early Bird Tournament on Saturday morning with a pair of matches.  The Gray Wolves face Mount Mercy at 10 a.m. EST before battling 10^th-ranked Robert Morris (Ill.) at 12 p.m. EST.