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Lourdes and Aquinas entered play on Saturday tied atop the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, but the Gray Wolves ended the day atop the standings after a 25-17, 25-21, 25-17 victory over the Saints inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
The Gray Wolves limited Aquinas to just .078 hitting on the afternoon, outdug the Saints 69-65, and held an 8-5 edge in blocks.
"This was a really strong team performance today," head coach
Greg Reitz said afterwards. "We maintained a high-level of play throughout the match, hit efficiently, dug and blocked the ball well, and have a solid service game."
Trailing 5-2 early in the opening set, Lourdes went on an 11-1 run to take control of the set. The Gray Wolves put down 16 kills in the opening stanza, hitting .245 as a team.
Set two was tight throughout, and was even at 20 when Lourdes scored the final five points of the stanza, including back-to-back service aces by
Carol Goncalves (Brazilia, Brazil/Sagrado Corcacao de Maria H.S.) to close out the win.
Lourdes never trailed in the third set. With the set tied at seven, the Gray Wolves scored seven of the next eight points to build a 14-8 advantage on the way to their 10
th straight home victory.
Tylar Roberson (Elkhart, Ind./Central H.S.) had 10 kills while
Monique Oliveira (Rio Branco, Brazil/Americo Rene Giannetti H.S.) and
Allie Hale (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.) each added nine as part of a balanced offensive attack.
Goncalves handed out 28 assists and added 21 digs for a double-double while
Niki Polce (New Boston, Mich./Huron H.S.) tallied 16 digs.
Alli Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) finished the day with 11 digs.
Evan Matheson (Fallon, Nev./Churchill County H.S.) posted a match-high five blocks.
Kristin Danielson led Aquinas (16-5, 7-2 WHAC) with 16 kills and 17 digs.
Lourdes (11-1, 8-1) finishes the first half of WHAC play on Wednesday evening, traveling to Lima, Ohio to battle Northwestern Ohio. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside of Racer Gymnasium.
