It took Lourdes an extra year to be able to defend its 2019 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament title, but the Gray Wolves captured the championship on Saturday with a 19-25, 25-22, 31-29, 25-16 victory over Indiana Tech inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"Our goal we set at the beginning of the season was to compete for a national title," head coach Greg Reitz said after the match.  "In order to qualify for nationals, we have to begin by winning the WHAC tournament and we did just that today.  It was a great team win."
 
The Gray Wolves set a school record with 19 blocks on the afternoon as Lourdes overcame just a .141 hitting match.
 
"We didn't start off playing our best volleyball, but we kept battling," Reitz added.  "Our defense was solid most of the match which was something we could rely upon until our offense came around."
 
A 7-1 run by Indiana Tech in the opening set put the 11^th-ranked Warriors in front 15-11 on the way to taking the early lead in the match.  Lourdes committed 10 attack errors and hit .000 for the set.
 
The Gray Wolves again had 10 errors in the second set and had to battle from behind to even the match.  Trailing 14-10, Lourdes scored five straight points behind the service of Ricardo Gehrke (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco) to pull in front.  Another three-point spurt pushed the lead to 20-18 and Lourdes held on for the set.
 
The third set had 11 ties, and Lourdes had to battle back from a 20-15 deficit, tying the stanza at 24-24.  The Gray Wolve fought off four set points before back-to-back kills by Max Petuhov (West Hills, Calif./El Camino Real H.S) and Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) closed out the set.
 
Lourdes never trailed in the fourth, committing just three attack errors, on the way to capturing the title.  Leading 12-11, Lourdes scored the next four points to extend the lead and closed the match out scoring six of the final seven.  Back-to-back blocks by Harrison McBean (Melbourne, Australia/Northern College of the Arts), the second combined with Henrique Gehrke ((Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao Do Rio Branco), clinched the victory.
 
Lam led all players with 19 kills and added 14 digs for a double-double while Ricardo Gehrke added 15 kills.  Henrique Gehrke handed out 30 assists to lead the offense.
 
Defensively, Petuhov registered nine blocks while McBean added eight, including three of the solo variety.  Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado) had a match-high 16 digs.
 
Daynte Stewart led Indiana Tech (16-5) with 13 kills and 14 digs while Brandon Jones dished out 42 assists and had 14 digs. 
 
"Our focus now shifts from qualifying for the national tournament to performing well at the national tournament," Reitz concluded.
 
Lourdes (14-2) will advance to the NAIA National Championships which will take place in Des Moines, Iowa.  Action takes place April 20-24, beginning with pool play action.