Lourdes cruised to its second Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference victory of the season on Tuesday night as the Gray Wolves defeated Bethel (Ind.) 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 inside the Goodman Center in Mishawaka, Ind.
 
"We had a bit of a slow start tonight but we found our rhythm," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We will need to serve more aggressively going forward though to give ourselves an edge."
 
Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) put down 10 kills and hit .500 on the evening while Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho) added eight kills while swinging at a .429 clip.  Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) ran an offense that hit .224 on the night, dishing out 23 assists while also leading the team with six digs.
 
The opening set was tied at 14 when Lourdes scored four of the next five points to take a three-point advantage.  The Pilots would pull back within one, 19-18, before the Gray Wolves scored the next three points on the way to securing the victory.
 
In set two, Lourdes forced 12 Bethel attack errors as the Pilots hit -.107 in the stanza.  With the set tied at eight, Lourdes went on a 5-1 run to take the lead for good on the way to building a 2-0 edge in the match.
 
The Gray Wolves would hit .333 in the third with just three attack errors.  Again, with the frame tied at 14, Lourdes would score four of the next five points and never allowed the Pilots to pull even the rest of the way on the way to completing the sweep.
 
Arthur Barreto led Bethel (1-4, 1-4 WHAC) with eight kills while Marcos Henrike added seven more for the Pilots.
 
Lourdes (4-3, 2-0) returns home on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves host Aquinas.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.