Lourdes was pushed to five sets by Lawrence Tech in its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference and home opener on Tuesday evening before defeating the Blue Devils 10-25, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 15-8 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"It's always great to get that first conference win and defend your home court," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We need to be more consistent with our level of play though."
 
Lawrence Tech started fast, scoring the first four points of the match on the way to building an early 10-2 lead.  The advantage grew to 18-5 as the Blue Devils hit .522 with 15 kills on just 23 swings in the opening stanza.
 
An early 5-1 run in the second set put Lourdes in front for good.  An eight-point run midway through the set allowed Lourdes to built an 18-8 advantage and the Gray Wolves held off a late 6-1 spurt by Lawrence Tech to even the match.  After just seven kills in the opening set, the Gray Wolves put down 18 in set two.
 
The Blue Devils scored the first five points of set three before Lourdes answered with five of its own.  The frame was tight throughout, and was tied at 16 when Lourdes used a 5-0 run to pull in front for good.
 
Lawrence Tech never trailed in the fourth on the way to forcing a decisive set.  An 8-2 run early gave the Blue Devils a 14-7 lead and Lourdes would get no closer than three the rest of the way.
 
In the fifth, Lourdes raced out to an 8-2 lead after seven straight points.  The Gray Wolves  yielded just two kills in the final stanza on the way to earning the victory and staying perfect all-time against Lawrence Tech while improving to 16-0 against the Blue Devils.
 
Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) led all players with 20 kills while Charlie Harr (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard H.S.) and Paul Rolland (Guethary, France/Justin Siena [Calif.] H.S.) had nine kills each while hitting .583 and .421 respectively.
 
Gabriel Vianna (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio do Instituto Padre Machado) led the Gray Wolf defense with eight digs.
 
Jeffry Fuhrmann led Lawrence Tech (2-1, 2-1 WHAC) with 13 kills while Matheus Andrade added 12 more.  Gustavo Heidrich recorded 16 digs to lead all defenders.
 
Lourdes (2-1, 1-0) returns to the road on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Midway, Ky. to face Midway.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside of Marshall Gymnasium.