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Lourdes began the 2020 men's volleyball season on Friday posting victories over Judson and Reinhardt at the Phoenix Classic held inside of Floyd Arena in Lebanon, Tenn.
 
The fourth-ranked Gray Wolves began the day defeating Judson 25-14, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15 before downing Reinhardt 25-10, 25-17, 25-14 in the afternoon contest.
 
In the opening match against Judson, Lourdes led from start to finish in the three sets the Gray Wolves won while nearly pulling out a win in the third stanza as well.
 
Lourdes raced out to an 8-2 lead in the opening set to take control early before using a 12-2 run in set two to pull away for a 2-0 lead in the match.  Set three had 17 ties and five lead changes, and was deadlocked at 23 before the Eagles scored the final two points to extend the match.  The Gray Wolves seized the fourth set early with a 6-1 lead and never looked back for the first win of the season.
 
"This was a good first match for us to get under our belt," head coach Greg Reitz said following the opener.  "We did some good things on the court.  It was really good to get to play against a different group of guys."
 
Lourdes hit .268 as a team in the opener with Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) leading the way with 12 kills and a .350 hitting percentage.  Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) added nine kills while tying the school's single match record with seven service aces.
 
Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) handed out 34 assists while Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado H.S.) led all players with 10 digs.
 
Nakuluai Morando led Judson (0-1) with 10 kills.  The Eagles were limited to .029 hitting as a team and Lourdes held a 38-20 dig advantage as well.
 
Reinhardt made its program debut against the Gray Wolves in the afternoon and Lourdes offense hit a blistering .493 while racking up nine aces against the Eagles.
 
Lourdes built a 6-1 advantage in the opening set and never looked back.  Set two was a two-point contest, 15-13, before Lourdes pulled away by scoring 10 of the final 14 points.  The Gray Wolves completed the sweep, scoring 13 of the first 17 points in the final stanza.
 
"We competed well this afternoon," Reitz added after the second contest.  "Our serving and passing was pretty strong most of the way and our offense was clicking well thanks to our ball control."
 
Gebert and Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) each had 12 kills against Reinhardt, hitting .611 and .545 respectively.  Henrique Gehrke handed out 36 assists while Heidrich had a match-high nine digs.
 
Matthew Corrales led Reinhardt (0-1) with 10 kills and hit .318, but the Eagles were limited to just .105 hitting as a team for the contest. 
 
Lourdes (2-0) will conclude play at the Phoenix Classic on Saturday with a pair of matches.  The Gray Wolves face Missouri Valley at 12 p.m. EST before battling host Cumberland (Tenn.) at 8 p.m. EST inside of Floyd Arena.