Lourdes gave 22^nd-ranked Cornerstone all it could handle on Saturday afternoon, but the Golden Eagles rallied in the fourth and fifth sets to defeat the Gray Wolves 25-23, 21-25, 20-25, 25-20, 15-9 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"This was a great battle for us," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We pushed the top team in the conference to five and gave ourselves a chance to win the match.  We played with a lot of heart and did a good job of executing our game plan."
 
Lourdes led 20-17 in the opening set before six straight points gave the Golden Eagles the early victory.  The Gray Wolves responded in the second scoring the first four points and never trailed while putting down 16 kills and hitting .325 to even the match. 
 
A 10-2 run midway through the third allowed the Gray Wolves to take a 2-1 lead in the match.  Cornerstone (22-3, 13-0 WHAC) led from start to finish in the fourth to force the decisive final set.  Tied at six in the fifth, the Golden Eagles scored seven of the next nine points on the way to their 22^nd consecutive win.
 
Cammy Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Ontario H.S.) set a single match record with 10 blocks in the contest while Abby Gentile (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield H.S.) added seven rejections.  As a team, Lourdes had 14 blocks, second most in program history.
 
Alli Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) tallied 32 digs as well in the defensive battle.
 
McKenna Hall (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview H.S.) tallied 22 kills and 13 digs while Gentile added 14 kills and 11 digs.  Jolie Sobb (Toledo, Ohio/Maumee H.S.) had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs while Katey Stakolich (Parma, Ohio/Normandy H.S.) dished out 48 assists to go along with 13 digs.
 
Kaylee Dykema led Cornerstone with 41 kills while Patsy Morris had 32 digs for the Golden Eagles.
 
Lourdes (9-13, 5-8) takes to the road for three straight matches, beginning on Wednesday with a trip to Fort Wayne, Ind. to face Indiana Tech.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center.