Lourdes opened the 2022 women's volleyball season at home on Friday, posting a pair of victories in the Gray Wolves Invitational inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.  Lourdes defeated Bluefield to begin the year 25-14, 30-28, 28-26 before downing Grace in the evening 25-16, 25-16, 25-18.
 
Lourdes opened the day hitting .341 with just eight attack errors against Bluefield as the Gray Wolves won a season opener for the first time since 2018.
 
"The match was a good start to the season," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We ran our offense very efficiently and played sound defense behind our block.  We had to battle in the last two sets and were able to pull out the wins."
 
A 12-3 run in the opening set broke the stanza open, giving Lourdes a 15-7 advantage as the Gray Wolves never looked back to begin the match.  Lourdes led 24-22 late in set two before the Rams fought off a pair of set points, scoring three straight points to pull in front.  The Gray Wolves ultimately fought off three set points against them as well before pulling out the win.
 
The third set had 15 ties and eight lead changes with Lourdes again leading 24-22 late.  Three straight points from Bluefield pushed the Rams back in front, but after the Gray Wolves fought off two set points by their guests, they finally closed out the match.
 
Kylee McBride (Peoria, Ariz./Mountain Ridge H.S.)  led the way for Lourdes with 16 kills and hit .389 while Abby Gentile (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield H.S.) and McKenna Hall (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview H.S.) hit .304 each with nine and eight kills respectively.  Alexis Walker (Lakeland, Fla./Lake Gibson H.S.) handed out 21 assists while Katey Stakolich (Parma, Ohio/Normandy H.S.) added 19 more.
 
Defensively, Alli Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) recorded 12 digs while Cammy Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Ontario H.S.) tallied four blocks as the Gray Wolves improved to 11-2 all-time in home openers.
 
Leslie Flores led Bluefield (0-1) with 17 kills and 13 digs while hitting .516 for the match.
 
The evening match against Grace against saw Lourdes hit well, swinging at a .240 clip with just nine miscues.  The Gray Wolves also registered 12 service aces in the contest.
 
"We handed the ball well and our setters ran a good offense," Reitz stated.  "Our block and defense transitioned us into points, and we served better than we did in the first match."
 
Leading 14-10 in opening set, Lourdes scored nine of the next 13 points and never looked back.  An 11-4 spurt to start the second set allowed the Gray Wolves to build a 2-0 lead in the match and they never trailed in the third, jumping out to a 12-5 lead.
 
Hall hit .333 with 12 kills while Stakolich handed out 15 assists.  Plasencio had 14 digs and four service aces.
 
Alisha Leffring led Grace (3-3) with seven kills and hit .429.
 
Lourdes (2-0) will wrap up the opening weekend tournament with two matches on Saturday.  The Gray Wolves face Saint Xavier at 9 a.m. before battling Mount Vernon Nazarene at 4:30 p.m.