Lourdes dropped the opening set but rallied to defeat Madonna in four sets 14-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 on Saturday afternoon inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center to snap a four-match losing skid.
"This was a good win for us," head coach
Greg Reitz said afterwards. "We played solid defense when we needed it. Our offense didn't quite find a rhythm, but we managed the ball well today. Our serving was pretty consistent which helped the defense out."
Madonna jumped out to an early 15-5 lead on the way to winning the opening set. The Crusaders put down 17 kills and hit .457 in the stanza while limiting Lourdes to just seven kills. The Gray Wolves evened the match in the second, holding Madonna to just 10 kills. Lourdes scored seven of the first eight points to build an early lead, only to see Madonna battle back and tie the set at nine. The stanza was tied again at 20 before the hosts scored the next four points on the way to the win.
The third set had 10 ties and six lead changes with Lourdes using a 4-0 burst to take the lead for good at 18-15. The Gray Wolves put down 19 kills in the fourth set on the way to completing the comeback. Trailing 12-11, Lourdes scored three straight points to take the lead for good while moving back to the .500 mark overall.
McKenna Hall (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview H.S.) put down a season-high 18 kills and added 10 digs for a double-double.
Katey Stakolich (Parma, Ohio/Normandy H.S.) came on late in the first set and finished the match with 40 assists as Lourdes hit .189 as a team for the match.
Ali Plasencio (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) tallied 24 digs while
Jolie Sobb (Toledo, Ohio/Maumee H.S.) added 14 more.
Quinn Olding (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop H.S.) and
Cammy Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Ontario H.S.) each were in on four blocks.
Molly Miller and DJ Sargent led Madonna (5-7, 2-4 WHAC) with 12 kills each while Katie Engelhardt registered 26 digs defensively.
Lourdes (7-7, 3-4) takes to the road on Wednesday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Southfield, Mich. to face Lawrence Tech. The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. inside of Ridler Field House.
