Lourdes came up one match shy of making an appearance in the NAIA National Invitational championship match, as the Gray Wolves suffered a 24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20 setback to Benedictine-Mesa in the semifinals on Friday evening inside the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"It is tough to lose your last match, but we were beat by a very strong team that played very well," head coach Greg Reitz said following the match.  "I am proud of this group for the way they competed all season.  We accomplished a lot this year and have a lot to look forward to."
 
Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) put down a team-high 14 kills while hitting .684 to pace the Gray Wolf offense, while Matt Mittry (Tustin, Calif./Calvary Chapel H.S.) added eight kills on nine swings for an .889 clip.
 
The opening set was tight throughout, with 15 ties before the Gray Wolves were finally able to pull out the victory.  The Redhawks fought off a pair of set points to extend the set before a kill by Mittry and a block by Brown and Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) put Lourdes in front one set to none, as the Gray Wolves won set one for the first time in the tournament.
 
Benedictine-Mesa scored six consecutive points to break a 12-12 deadlock in the second set, and withstood a late Lourdes rally to even the match at one.  The Gray Wolves were able to withstand four set points before the Redhawks delivered one of their 20 blocks in the match to end the set.
 
Lourdes jumped out to the early lead in the third set, holding an 11-6 edge.  Benedictine-Mesa slowly cut into its deficit, and eventually tied the match and took the lead, 22-20, as part of four consecutive points.  The Gray Wolves were never able to pull even the rest of the set, and fell behind 2-1 in the match.
 
The Redhawks scored the first three points of the fourth set and Lourdes was never able to pull in front, as the Gray Wolves saw their season come to an end.  Lourdes was within two, 21-19, when Benedictine-Mesa scored three straight points to take control, and earn a date in Saturday's title match against host Grand View.
 
Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) tallied 13 kills and Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) added 10 more on a night the Gray Wolves hit .211 as a team.  Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) dished out 30 assists while Ian Fields (Phoenix, Ariz./Sandra Day O'Connor H.S.) added 23 more while also registering 11 digs.
 
Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) and Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovannini H.S.) had 12 digs each to lead Lourdes, as the Gray Wolves held a 56-49 advantage for the match.
 
Logan Adcock led Benedictine-Mesa (21-8) with 17 kills and nine blocks while Jaron Jones handed out 51 assists and tallied 13 digs while leading an offense that hit .274 for the match.  Jesus Izaguirre tallied a match-high 19 digs while Sam Buckesl also had nine blocks.
 
Lourdes' season comes to a close with a 23-8 record.  This was the Gray Wolves' first appearance in the NAIA National Invitational semifinals, after reaching pool play each of the last two seasons.