Eighth-ranked Lourdes fought off three match points in the fifth set to defeat Goshen 25-27, 25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 18-16 on Saturday afternoon inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We had to battle to come away with the win," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "In the fifth set we made the plays we needed to in order to win."
 
Jeff Lam (Richmond, B.C./Hugh McRoberts H.S.) hit .393 with 27 kills and Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) added 20 more as Lourdes hit .274 in the match.  Sawyer Schafer (Monroeville, Ohio/Monroeville H.S.) handed out 54 assists in addition to six kills of his own.
 
Lourdes battled back from a 20-16 deficit in the opening set to earn a pair of set points at 24-22.  The Maple Leafs responded though with the next three points on the way to pulling out the first set.  The Gray Wolves never trailed in the second stanza, building an early 9-4 lead, on the way to evening the match.
 
The Gray Wolves won set three despite Goshen hitting .407.  Lourdes had five service aces in the set and the Maple Leafs committed five service errors that proved to be the difference.  The fourth set had 14 ties and six lead changes.  The Gray Wolves held a 23-22 lead before Goshen tallied the final three points to force the decisive fifth set.
 
Goshen (19-8, 6-6 WHAC) bult a 12-9 advantage in the final stanza before Lourdes battled back.  With the Maple Leafs holding two match points, Lourdes got a kill from Ayala before an attack error evened the score at 14.  Goshen had another match point at 15-14 before back-to-back kills by Lam put the Gray Wolves in front.  With the set tied at 16, Ayala put down a kill before his service ace, his sixth of the match, secured the win.
 
Lam had 17 digs and Ayala had 11 more as each registered double-doubles.  Guga Heidrich (Braco do Norte, Brazil/Colegio Unificado) had 12 digs and Tomas Olak (Rowville, Australia/Mazenod College) added 10 more.  
 
Lucas Sauder led Goshen with 24 kills and 15 digs while Alexander Rabadzhiev had 22 kills and 10 digs.
 
Lourdes (15-4, 10-2) heads to Fort Wayne, Ind. on Wednesday evening for a first place showdown with Indiana Tech.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center.