In a battle of NAIA top-10 programs, seventh-ranked Lourdes took a two sets to one lead over third-ranked Park, but the Pirates rallied to defeat the Gray Wolves 25-19, 23-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-8 inside the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"We had to battle our way back in to the match and did just that," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We just couldn't finish off the match with the execution that we needed.  We will be back at it tomorrow to see if we can get better."
 
Harrison McBean (Melbourne, Australia/Northern College of the Arts) set a new school record with 15 blocks, breaking the old mark of 13 set by Ryan Maune at Missouri Valley in 2016.  In addition, the Gray Wolves tallied 17 blocks as a team, second most in program history.
 
Park also was blocking balls at the net, finishing with 19.5 for the night.  The Pirates limited the Lourdes offense to just .195 hitting while Park hit .193 as well.
 
Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) tallied a match-high 17 kills while Evan Gebert (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.) added 13 more.  Brady Boyle (Alpharetta, Ga./Chattahoochee H.S.) handed out 45 assists.
 
Defensively, Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado H.S.) registered nine digs.
 
Park hit .357 in the opening set with 15 kills while Lourdes answered with a .476 hitting mark in the second on the way to evening the match.  The Gray Wolves limited the Pirates to -.087 in the third in building a 2-1 lead but 14 kills in the fourth set were not enough for Lourdes to close out the match in a stanza that had 17 ties.  The Pirates led wire-to-wire in the final set in earning the win.
 
Felipe Guirau and Hiago Crins led Park (12-0) with 13 kills each.
 
Lourdes (16-4) will return to action on Wednesday evening, as the Gray Wolves travel to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to face Mount Mercy.  First serve is set for 8 p.m. EDT inside of Hennessey Recreation Center.