Lourdes closed out its regular season on Saturday afternoon suffering a 30-28, 16-25, 30-28, 18-25, 15-13 Homecoming loss to Rochester (Mich.) inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"This match was a great chance for us to be able to evaluate a lot of pieces to our puzzle," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "I'm glad that we competed hard, but it would have been nice to make a few extra plays to earn the victory.  Now we turn our focus to the conference tournament."
 
Rochester came out strong offensively in the opening set, putting down 14 kills without a miscue and hitting .438.  Trailing 24-21, Lourdes fought off three set points and had four of its own before the Warriors took advantage of three consecutive attack errors by the Gray Wolves to win the stanza.
 
An 11-4 run midway through set two allowed Lourdes to stretch its lead on the way to evening the match.  The Gray Wolves, after registering 19 kills in set one, added 16 more and hit .394 in the second.
 
Set three had 12 ties and eight lead changes.  The Gray Wolves were in front 16-11 before the Warriors scored eight consecutive points to take the lead.  Trailing 24-20, Lourdes scored five straight points to extend the set and had two match points of its own before the Warriors scored the final three points.
 
Lourdes never trailed in the fourth set, limiting Rochester to just four kills and a -.086 hitting percentage.  The Gray Wolves used 9-0 run to build a 19-9 advantage on the way to forcing the decisive set.
 
In the fifth, the Gray Wolves led the first half of the set, holding an 8-6 lead before the Warriors scored four straight points to pull in front.  With the set tied at 12, Rochester tallied the next two points on the way to the win.
 
Kylee McBride (Peoria, Ariz./Mountain Ridge H.S.) led Lourdes with 20 kills while Cammy Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Ontario H.S.) added 10 more with a .421 hitting percentage.  Michaela Eisenhauer (Castalia, Ohio/Margaretta H.S.) put down 15 kills and hit .382 while Kortney Ellison (Millbury, Ohio/Lake H.S.) registered a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs.
 
Alexis Walker (Lakeland, Fla./Lake Gibson H.S.) handed out 40 assists as the team hit .208 for the afternoon.
 
Alli Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) recorded a match-high 32 digs while Madison Smith (Woodburn, Ind./Woodlan H.S.) added 14 more.  Eisenhauer had four blocks.
 
Taylor Butkiewiczc led Rochester (12-25, 4-16) with 19 kills while Autumn Deshetsky had 19 digs and 25 assists.
 
Lourdes (12-17, 8-12) will head to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament on Wednesday evening.  The league will announce the official pairings later this weekend.