In the first season that the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference sponsored men's volleyball as a sport, the No. 2-ranked Lourdes men's volleyball captured the league title as it upended No. 6-ranked Aquinas 25-19, 25-22, 25-23 on the road on Friday evening.
 
"This was a great performance by our guys tonight," stated head coach Greg Reitz following the victory. "We played well to start the match, and we were able to play well when we were challenged. I'm proud of how these guys fought to post that comeback to seal the victory."
 
With the victory over Aquinas, Lourdes claims the No. 1 seed in the upcoming WHAC Tournament and will host the tournament in Sylvania from April 5-6.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider) and Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao do Rio Branco) led the way offensively for Lourdes with 12 kills each. Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts) added 10 kills and 10 digs for the Gray Wolves.
 
Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao do Rio Branco) ran the offense for Lourdes, handing out 39 assists in the victory. Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovannini) added a team-best 11 digs. Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) posted an impressive four blocks to lead Lourdes defensively.
 
The first set was a heated battle throughout, but Lourdes was able to break a 14-all tie midway through the set with four straight points to gain some breathing room and take an 18-14 lead.
 
The Saints (25-2, 5-2 WHAC) got within 21-19, but Lourdes scored four straight points capped by a Brown kill and an Gebert service ace to claim set one 25-19.
 
In the second set, Lourdes jumped out to a 12-6 lead following a kill from Lam. Aquinas would storm back in the set, getting the score to 20-all late in the set.
 
From there, Lourdes scored two straight to take a 22-20 lead and force an Aquinas timeout. Out of the timeout, Aquinas got within 23-22, but a Saints attack error and a Gebert kill put the set away and gave Lourdes a 2-0 lead.
 
Lourdes took an early lead in the third set, but Aquinas came back and gained a 14-10 lead, forcing a Gray Wolf timeout. Brown laid down a kill out of the timeout to cut the deficit to 14-11.
 
Aquinas stretched its lead to 21-16, but back-to-back attack errors from the hosts got Lourdes within 21-18, forcing an Aquinas timeout. Another attack error from the Saints and a Gebert kill forced another timeout from Aquinas as the deficit was cut to 21-20.
 
Lourdes continued its rally, scoring two more to take a 22-21 lead after the timeout. Aquinas would end the 6-0 Lourdes run and knot the contest at 22-all, but Lourdes scored three of the final four points capped by a Brown kill to claim the WHAC Regular Season title.
 
"We did a lot of things on that we focused on in practice tonight," Reitz added. "We will need to limit our errors in the future, but I really like the effort by our men tonight on the court."
 
Lourdes returns to action on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. when it hosts Siena Heights in its final regular season WHAC contest.