Lourdes improved to 10-0 this season inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center as the Gray Wolves defeated Bethel (Ind.) 25-19, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20 on Tuesday evening.
 
"This was a good team win," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We didn't play the cleanest volleyball but we stayed at it and improved our play as we went along.  Our efficiency along with our serve and pass were both pretty good."
 
The ninth-ranked Gray Wolves never trailed in the opening set, hitting .406 in the stanza with 18 kills.  A 7-3 run midway through opened up an 18-10 advantage as Lourdes led by as many as nine in the set.  Set two had 14 ties and five lead changes before the Pilots scored four of the final five points to even the match.
 
Lourdes led wire-to-wire again in the third, leading by as many as six, 21-15.  Bethel battled back to within one, 23-22, before Lourdes scored the final two points to close out the set.  Trailing 5-2 in the fourth, Lourdes went on a 10-3 spurt that put the hosts in front for good on the way to closing out the match.
 
Jaber Badarne (Arrabe, Israel/Hof Hasharon) led the Gray Wolves with 16 kills and hit .265 while Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho) added 11 kills.  Tomas Olak (Rowville, Australia/Mazenod College) registered a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs.
 
Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) ran the offense that hit .276 for the match, handing out 45 assists while adding six kills of his own in seven attempts for an .857 hitting mark.  Defensively, Reshawn Allen (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego H.S.) was involved in six blocks.
 
Marcos Henrike led Bethel (9-13, 5-11 WHAC) with 17 kills and hit .353.
 
Lourdes (17-6, 14-2) takes to the road for the final time in the regular season on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. to battle Indiana Tech.  First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center.