Despite taking the opening set on Friday afternoon, Lourdes suffered its first defeat of the season, falling 19-25, 28-26, 25-16, 25-15 to McKendree in the opening match of the Lindenwood Invitational held inside of Hyland Arena in Saint Charles, Mo.
 
"We started off solid and the second was good too," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "Unfortunately we didn't play well the rest of the match.  We have to work through some of this to see if we can fix our energy problem."
 
Lourdes, ranked third in NAIA, hit a blistering .333 in the opening set, making just three attack errors in jumping out to the early lead.  Tied at 10, the Gray Wolves went on an 8-3 run to pull away and win the set.
 
The Gray Wolves led most of the second set as well, leading 24-22 late before three straight points allowed the Bearcats to extend the set and eventually even the match.  Lourdes hit .303 in the stanza but McKendree put down 18 kills while hitting .314 to earn the win.
 
The Lourdes offense went away in the third, as 15 attack errors led to a -.219 hitting percentage for the Gray Wolves.  McKendree won the set with just five total kills, using an 8-3 run midway through to seize control.
 
The Bearcats hit .391 in the fourth with just two miscues while Lourdes hit .000 as NCAA Division II McKendree pulled away late for the victory.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) led Lourdes with 13 kills and five service aces while Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) added 10 kills.  Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) finished the afternoon with 30 assists, leading a team that finished with a .094 hitting percentage.
 
Defensively, Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovanni H.S.) led all players with 15 digs while Lourdes was outblocked 15-3 for the match.
 
Zach Schnittker led McKendree (2-3) with 15 kills while Patrick Ross had 35 assists and 10 digs for the Bearcats.
 
Lourdes (4-1) will return to the court on Saturday evening, facing host Lindenwood.  The opening serve is set for 8 p.m. EST inside of Hyland Arena.