Lourdes faced a pair of ranked opponents on Saturday inside Davis-Reid Alumni Gym in Georgetown, Ky., falling to eighth-ranked Menlo in four sets and sixth-ranked Georgetown (Ky.) in five sets.
 
The Gray Wolves dropped the opener 25-21, 25-15, 20-25, 25-19 before losing to the host Tigers 24-26, 22-25, 25-15, 30-28, 15-12.
 
"These were two quality matches for us today," head coach Greg Reitz said.  "We played some really nice volleyball at times with serve and pass as well as on offense and defense, but there were also times that we didn't.  We battled pretty well and look to use this fight going forward."
 
In the opener against Menlo, Lourdes held a one- or two-point advantage most of the first half of the set before four straight points by the Oaks allowed them to take the lead for good, 16-13.   The Oaks never trailed in set two, jumping out to an early 10-5 advantage.  The lead grew to nine, 22-13, on the way to building a 2-0 edge in the match.  Lourdes hit -.038 in the set.
 
The Gray Wolves turned it around in the third, swinging at a .400 clip with just one attack error.  Lourdes jumped in front 8-3 and never looked back, extending the match.  Trailing 4-2 in the fourth, Menlo scored five consecutive points to take the lead and never relinquished it on the way to closing out the contest. 
 
Jabar Badarne (Arrabe, Israel/HofHashron) led Lourdes with 11 kills while Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho) added 10 kills and hit .429.  Cauan Reuter (Blumenau, Brazil/Escola Barao do Rio Branco) handed out 24 assists over two sets.  Defensively, Sawyer Schafer (Monroeville, Ohio/Monroeville H.S.) picked up 11 digs while Badarne added 10 digs. 
 
Konrad Stoklosinski and Edi Ibrahimovic led Menlo (4-0) with 16 kills each while Chase Direito added 12 kills and hit .588.  Christian Menchaca recorded a match-high 13 digs.
 
Against Georgetown, Lourdes raced out to a 2-0 lead before the Tigers battled back.  The Gray Wolves led early 6-1 and led nearly the entire way until Georgetown fought back late to tie the set.  Lourdes prevailed though in extra points.  In the second set, Georgetown took a quick 7-2 advantage before Loudes climbed back.  Trailing 19-15, Lourdes went on a 6-2 run to pull in front on the way to the win.
 
The Tigers used a 12-1 run in the third set on the way to extending the match, hitting .500 in the stanza.  In the fourth, Lourdes fought off six set points before Georgetown forced the decisive set.  The Tigers took an 8-3 lead in the fifth only to see the Gray Wolves pull even at 11.  The hosts scored the next three points though on the way to completing the comeback.
 
Badarne led Lourdes with 21 kills and hit .381 while Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) added 14 kills.  Reuter handed out 42 assists while Schafer had 14 digs.
 
Ryan Gunn paced Georgetown (5-1) with 18 kills while Krzysztof Kowalski added 15 more.
 
Lourdes (3-3) concludes its road trip on Tuesday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Mishawaka, Ind. to battle Bethel (Ind.).  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Goodman Center.