Lourdes wrapped up the 2019 regular season on Saturday afternoon posting four-set victories over Campbellsville and Cardinal Stritch to celebrate Senior Day on the final day of the Lourdes Invitational inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The Gray Wolves downed Campbellsville 25-10, 22-25, 25-22, 25-20 in the morning before coming back to defeat Cardinal Stritch 25-27, 25-20, 25-18, 25-23.
 
Lourdes appeared ready to cruise in the opening match, winning the opening set easily.  The Gray Wolves raced out to a 12-3 lead and hit .591 in the stanza while limiting the Tigers to just four total kills.  Campbellsville bounced back in the second set to even the match.  An 8-1 Tigers run turned a three-point deficit into an 18-15 lead before the visitors hung on to win the set.
 
The Gray Wolves never trailed in the third, building an 18-12 lead before withstanding a late Campbellsville run to take a 2-1 advantage in the match.  Lourdes closed out the match in the fourth, hitting .375 with 15 kills.
 
"I thought we started the match passing really well, but then broke down," head coach Greg Reitz said of the opening match.  "We had to battle to come through with the win."
 
Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) put down 20 kills while hitting .485 while Brendan Brown (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny H.S.) added 11 kills on 13 swings to hit .846.  As a team the Gray Wolves hit .331 with Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) handed out 46 assists.
 
Defensively, Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovanni H.S.) had a match-high 24 digs for the Gray Wolves.
 
Jason Camacho led Campbellsville (20-8) with 15 kills and 11 digs.
 
Prior to the Cardinal Stritch match, Lourdes celebrated its three seniors, Brown, Isaiah Williams (Hollywood, Calif./Birmingham H.S.), and Lance Blough (Hooversville, Pa./Shade-Central City H.S.).
 
Following the ceremony, Cardinal Stritch took the opening set from the Gray Wolves, hitting .440.  Lourdes had a pair of set points before the Wolves rallied for the win.  In the second, the Gray Wolves hit .370, and used a late 6-0 run to take the lead for good, 22-18, on the way to evening the match.
 
Lourdes raced out to an 8-1 advantage in the third and never looked back, limiting Cardinal Stritch to just nine kills in the stanza.  In the fourth, the Wolves led 18-15 before Lourdes rallied with an 8-3 run to pull out the match.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) put down 15 kills and hit .364 while Andrade moved to the outside mid-match and added 12 kills while hitting .409.  Lam had 10 kills as well for a team that hit .330.  Gehrke handed out 43 assists.
 
Gebert also had a match-high nine digs defensively while Lam added four blocks.
 
Felipe Mello Oliveira led Cardinal Stritch (12-16) with 17 kills and eight digs.
 
Lourdes (21-3) will host the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament nest Friday and Saturday.  The Gray Wolves will face Lawrence Tech in the semifinals on Friday evening beginning at 7:30 p.m.