Fourth-ranked Lourdes began its five-match weekend with a three-set sweep of seventh-ranked Saint Xavier 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 on Thursday evening inside the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill.
 
The Gray Wolves extended their consecutive sets won streak to 19 after notching its seventh consecutive sweep in a battle of two teams that entered the match undefeated on the season.
 
Lourdes hit .347 for the match while holding the Cougars to just a .208 clip and held a 44-35 advantage in kills.
 
"We played a pretty solid match," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We served well and passed well for much of the match.  We had to battle and play well to get the win tonight and we did just that."
 
A 7-1 run in the opening set allowed Lourdes to break a 9-9 deadlock and take control.  The Gray Wolves limited Saint Xavier to just seven kills in the stanza as the Cougars hit .077.
 
Set two was tight throughout.  There were 21 ties and 10 lead changes before the Gray Wolves scored the final three points after trailing 23-22. 
 
In the final set Lourdes never trailed, and hit .441 with 15 kills and was void of any attack errors in completing the sweep.
 
Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) led Lourdes with 13 kills and hit .429 while Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) added 11 kills while swinging at a .364 clip.  Henrique Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco H.S.) handed out 35 assists.
 
Defensively, Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado H.S.) registered 10 digs while Fred Miller (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy College Prep H.S.) was involved in three blocks.
 
Grant Ooms led Saint Xavier (6-1) with 11 kills while Ryan Gossett tallied 10 digs.
 
Lourdes (7-0) heads to Elgin, Ill. on Friday to compete in the Judson Early Bird Invitational the next two days.  The Gray Wolves face Lincoln at 1:30 p.m. EST and Clarke at 5:30 p.m. EST in day one of the event inside of the Lindner Fitness Center.