The University of Northwestern Ohio rallied from a two-set deficit to defeat Lourdes 23-25, 22-25, 25-20, 27-25, 15-8 on Wednesday evening inside of the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We struggled to find a rhythm tonight," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.  "We served pretty well but the offense didn't click like it needs to.  We extended rallies and made some scrappy plays, but couldn't finish off points to gain some momentum."
 
Lourdes took the first two sets.  In set one, the Gray Wolves jumped out to a 9-4 lead and withstood a Racer rally in which the visitors took a 19-17 advantage.  Lourdes took advantage of Northwestern Ohio attack errors down the stretch to pull out the opening set.
 
Set two was tied 20-20 before the Gray Wolves scored three consecutive points to pull in front for good, building the 2-0 advantage in the match.
 
The Racers rallied in the third set, building an 18-12 advantage.  Lourdes scored five consecutive points to pull within one, but was unable to even the stanza as Northwestern Ohio extended the match to a fourth set.  There were 15 ties and nine lead changes in the fourth.  Lourdes jumped out to a 7-2 lead before the Racers answered with six straight points.  The Gray Wolves had a pair of match points but were unable to close out the contest.
 
Northwestern Ohio went on a 10-1 run in the fifth set on the way to building a 10-3 advantage.  Lourdes scored four straight points to pull within three, but that would be as close as the Gray Wolves would get the rest of the match.
 
Kylee McBride (Peoria, Ariz./Mountain Ridge H.S.) led Lourdes with 18 kills and added 13 digs while Emily Drenth (Darien, Ill./Hinsdale South H.S.) also registered a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs.  Yasmin Assis (Salto, Brazil/Antonio Alves Aranha H.S.) handed out 56 assists while leading the Gray Wolf offense that hit .158 for the match.
 
Defensively, Angelica Dippold (Louisville, Ky./Mercy Academy) led Lourdes with 24 digs while Alli Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) added 21 digs.  Michaela Eisenhauer (Castalia, Ohio/Margaretta H.S.) tallied four blocks.
 
Erika Angstmann led Northwestern Ohio (17-7, 7-3 WHAC) with 20 kills and 14 digs while Devon Heitkamp added 17 kills.
 
Lourdes (8-10, 5-5) will have a week off before beginning the second half of Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play next Wednesday when the Gray Wolves entertain Indiana Tech.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.