Lourdes won the opening set against the number one team in the country to open the season on Thursday night but defending NAIA national champion Grand View rallied to defeat the Gray Wolves 25-27, 25-12, 25-20, 25-17 inside the Charles S. Johnson Wellness Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
"We did some good things for our first match of the season," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We battled well in that first set but didn't maintain that level of fight.  There were a lot of things to build upon though."
 
Grand View started quick, jumping out to a 6-1 lead in the opening set.  The Gray Wolves battled back, closing to within one, 8-7, and hung close with the Vikings throughout the remainder of the set.  Lourdes finally pulled even at 23 and fought off a set point to extend the stanza before pulling off the win.
 
The Vikings took an early 11-2 lead in the second set, held Lourdes to just six kills, and hit .414 in the stanza themselves on the way to evening the match.  Grand View hit .550 in the third with just one error in winning set three before closing out the match in the fourth swinging at a .458 clip. 
 
Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) led Lourdes with 12 kills and four service aces while Reshawn Allen (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego H.S.) added eight kills while hitting .500 on the night.  As a team the Gray Wolves swung at just a .118 clip.
 
Defensively, Sawyer Schafer (Monroeville, Ohio/Monroeville H.S.) registered a team-high 13 digs while Charlie Harr (Indianpolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard H.S.) was involved in five blocks.
 
Daniel Wong had 14 kills and hit .542 to lead Grand View (1-0) while Daniel Galili tallied 14 digs defensively.  The Vikings hit .400 for the match.
 
Lourdes (0-1) returns to the court in Des Moines on Friday for a neutral site match against fifth-ranked William Penn.  First serve is set for 5 p.m. EST.