Sixth-ranked Lourdes battled to a five-set victory over Saint Ambrose in the afternoon before cruising to a straight sets victory over Saint Andrews on Friday evening on day one of the Gray Wolf Invitational held inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The Gray Wolves defeated Saint Ambrose 26-28, 25-12, 25-17, 19-25, 15-13 before downing Saint Andrews 25-12, 25-13, 25-21.
 
"We struggled to find our rhythm with serve receive and our offense at times in the first match," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We battled to come away with a hard fought five-set win though."
 
Lourdes led 21-17 in the opening set before the Bees battled back, scoring five straight points to take the lead.  The Gray Wolves did have a pair of set points Saint Ambrose erased before taking the opening set.
 
In the second, Lourdes limited the Bees to just five kills as Saint Ambrose hit -.156.  The Gray Wolves ran out to an 11-3 lead and ever looked back while evening the match.  Leading 13-12 in the third, Lourdes scored four straight points to increase the advantage, and hit .438 behind 18 kills to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Saint Ambrose jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the fourth, only to see the Gray Wolves tied the set at 12.  After falling behind by four again, Lourdes pulled within one, 16-15 before the Bees tallied five consecutive points on the way to evening the match.
 
Lourdes scored the first three points of the fifth set and maintained the lead until Saint Ambrose tied the stanza at 11.  The visitors took a 13-12 lead before three consecutive errors allowed the Gray Wolves to pull off the victory.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) led Lourdes with 21 kills and 11 digs in the opener while Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) added 15 kills and 16 digs.  Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) tallied 11 kills while Fred Miller (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy College Prep H.S.) added 10 more.
 
Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) handed out 55 assists and had 12 digs while Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado H.S.) added 14 digs.
 
Lourdes hit .228 for the match compared with the Bees' .112 mark and outdug Saint Ambrose 65-45.  The Bees held a 15-7 edge in blocks.
 
Scott MacGillis led Saint Ambrose (7-7) with 15 kills.
 
Lourdes hit .387 against Saint Andrews in the nightcap, committing just nine attack errors for the match.
 
We started efficient and maintained that high level," Reitz said of the second win.  "We had a lot of guys come in and contribute."
 
The Gray Wolves jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the opening set, hitting .444, on the way to taking control of the match.  Set two saw the Gray Wolves go on a 7-1 run late to pull away, as Lourdes held the Knights to a negative hitting percentage in each of the first two stanzas.
 
Saint Andrews took an early 10-3 lead in the third set before Lourdes roared back.  A 7-1 run pulled Lourdes to within one, and the Gray Wolves eventually took the lead for good with three straight points to make it 19-17. 
 
Lam led Lourdes with eight kills and hit .467 while Harrison McBean (Melbourne, Australia/northern College of the Arts H.S.) had six kills and hit .857.  Brady Boyle (Alpharetta, Ga./Chattahoochee H.S.) handed out 23 assists in two sets of action.
 
Defensively, Heidrich had a match-high 21 digs as Lourdes outdug the Knights 43-27.
 
Jacob DeSouza led Saint Andrews (5-9) with nine kills.
 
Lourdes (15-2) will close out play at the Gray Wolf Invitational on Saturday, hosting Robert Morris (Ill.).  First serve is set for 2 p.m.