Lourdes rallied after dropping the opening set on Friday night to defeat Hope International 21-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-19 in the semifinals of the Independent Group tournament inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We had to battle through adversity and find a way to win tonight," head coach Greg Reitz said following the match.  "We continued to battle and make plays to pull out the win."
 
The Gray Wolves looked poised to take the opening set, building a 19-12 lead following a 6-0 run early in the stanza and another 6-3 spurt later.  However, the Royals stormed back, closing the set on a 12-2 run, including the final nine points to take the early lead in the match.
 
The second set saw Lourdes again build a large advantage, 19-14, only to have Hope International battle back once again.  Four straight points pulled the Royals within one, but Lourdes never allowed the set to be tied late, evening the match.
 
There were 10 ties in the third before the Gray Wolves were able to pull out the win.  Lourdes needed four set points before securing the set.  In the fourth, Lourdes opened up a 10-6 lead, extended the advantage to 16-9, and never looked back on the way to securing the team's 20^th victory of the season.
 
Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovannini H.S.) led the way with 19 kills and 10 digs while Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) and Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) each added 10 kills.  Gebert also had 10 digs.
 
Ian Fields (Phoenix, Ariz./Sandra Day O'Connor H.S.) handed out 35 kills as Lourdes hit .196 for the match and added 10 digs defensively while Eric Ubior (Guaynabo, P.R./Wesleyan Academy) had a team-high 16 digs.  Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) registered eight blocks.
 
Nicholas Bilinski led Hope International (14-11) with 17 kills and 14 digs while Vinny Parisi had 17 digs.  The Royals hits .170 for the match.
 
Fifth-ranked Lourdes (20-6) advances to Saturday's championship match where the Gray Wolves will battle sixth-ranked Benedictine-Mesa for the automatic bid to the NAIA National Invitational.  The first serve is set for 1 p.m.  Hope International will face Siena Heights in the consolation match beginning at 10 a.m.