In a battle of nationally ranked teams, 14^th-ranked Lourdes opened its 2024 season on Thursday afternoon dropping a 25-22, 25-23, 25-17 decision to sixth-ranked Grand View in the first match of the Chicago Tournament held inside the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill.
 
"This was a good match for us to start off with," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We had to play our best to give us a chance for the win.  We competed well for much of the match, but we didn't sustain it long enough.  We will learn from this experience and look to improve for our next match."
 
The Gray Wolves hit .262 as a team for the day but could not slow down a Viking offense that swung at a .452 clip on the afternoon.  Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) put down a match-high 16 kills while hitting .444 for Lourdes while Jaber Badarne (Arrabe, Israel/Hof Hasharon) added 10 kills.  Sawyer Schafer (Monroeville, Ohio/Monroeville H.S.) ran the Gray Wolf offense, handing out 32 assists while also picking up six digs, sharing the team lead with Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho).
 
In the opening set, Lourdes battled back from a 13-8 deficit to pull even late in the stanza 20-20 but was never able to take the lead as the Vikings built an early lead in the match.  Set two had 20 ties and seven lead changes.  The Gray Wolves led 21-20 before Grand View scored four of the final six points to build a 2-0 advantage.  The Vikings jumped in front 4-0 in set three and used another 6-2 run late to complete the sweep.
 
Daniel Galili led Grand View (1-0) with 13 kills and hit .550 on the day as the Viking offense committed just nine attack errors in the match.
 
Lourdes (0-1) will face another ranked foe on Friday afternoon for day two of the event.  The Gray Wolves return to the Shannon Center on the campus of Saint Xavier to battle 13^th-ranked Jamestown.  The first serve is set for 2 p.m. EST.