After dropping the opening set, 13^th-ranked Lourdes battled back to defeat Cornerstone 22-25, 29-27, 30-28, 25-20 on Friday evening in the semifinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament held inside the Schaefer Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
 
Jaber Badarne (Arrabe, Israel/Hof Hasharon) put down 20 kills while hitting .378 and Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) added 18 kills and 11 digs while swinging at a .350 clip.  The Gray Wolves hit .298 as a team on the evening with Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) handing out 40 assists.  Gabriel Vianna (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Colegio do Instituto Padre Machado) had 11 digs as well.
 
Cornerstone hit a blistering .429 in the opening set with 14 kills and just two errors to take the early lead in the match.  The set was tied at 20 when the Golden Eagles scored three straight points to take control after leading most of the second half of the stanza.
 
Lourdes fell behind 5-1 early in the second and still trailed 14-10 before making a run to pull even at 16.  The Gray Wolves fought off a pair of set points at 24-23 and 26-25 before converting on its own third set point opportunity to even the match.
 
Set three had 21 ties and seven lead changes, with neither side leading by more than two points the entire frame.  The Gray Wolves had six set points before finally winning the set to take the lead in the match.
 
The Gray Wolves hit .385 with just two errors in the fourth set while limiting Cornerstone to a .091 clip as the Golden Eagles made 11 miscues.  Leading 10-9, Lourdes went on an 8-1 run to pull away on the way to clinching a spot in the WHAC title match.
 
David Galanes had 23 kills to lead all players for Cornerstone (19-13) while Kyi Jagorin picked up 24 digs and Patrick Voloch handed out 44 assists.  The Golden Eagles hit .222 for the night.
 
Lourdes (19-7) will face regular season, and tournament host, 12^th-ranked Indiana Tech for the third time in eight days on Saturday afternoon in the championship match.  The first serve is set for 1 p.m. inside the Schaefer Center with the winner earning the league's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.