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Lourdes began play at the NAIA National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday afternoon with a convincing 25-21, 25-20, 25-22 victory over Saint Andrews in pool play inside the Johnson Wellness Center.
 
The second-ranked Gray Wolves defeated the eighth-ranked Knights for the third time this season, and second via a three-set sweep.
 
"I was very happy with the overall play of the team today," head coach Greg Reitz said after the victory.  "We started a little slow from the baseline, but found our rhythm as the match progressed.  Offensively we were pretty steady.  We will need to block more consistently moving forward though."
 
Lourdes hit .349 for the contest, including .400 or higher in two of the three sets behind 35 assists from Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.).  Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) led the way for the Gray Wolves with 14 kills and a .435 hitting percentage while Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) and Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) added nine kills each.
 
The opening set was tied 12-12 when Lourdes went on a 6-2 run to take the lead for good.  The Knights cut their deficit to one, 20-19, only to see the Gray Wolves pull away behind a .414 hitting mark and 17 kills in the stanza.
 
In set two, Lourdes trailed 15-14 when Ricardo Gehrke stepped to the service line to jumpstart a 7-1 Gray Wolf run.  Lourdes was able to pull away late while building the 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third set was tied at 17 before Lourdes scored four of the next five points to take its final lead of the match.  The Gray Wolves put down 17 more kills in the final stanza, hitting .429, on the way to completing the sweep.
 
Matheus Andrade (Coronel Fabriciano, Brazil/Alberto Giovanni H.S.) tallied 14 digs while Lance Blough (Hooversville, Pa./Shade-Central City H.S.) added three blocks, including two solos.
 
Lourdes limited Saint Andrews to .198 hitting for the match and held a 43-35 advantage in kills and a 31-22 edge in digs.
 
Jacob DeSouza led Saint Andrews (20-6) with 10 kills while Carolos Rodriguez had nine digs for the Knights.
 
Lourdes (24-3) continues pool play on Wednesday afternoon, facing Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference foe Aquinas.  First serve is set for 2 p.m. EDT inside the Johnson Wellness Center.