Lourdes registered its first sweep of the season on Tuesday evening as the Gray Wolves downed Bethel (Ind.) 25-22, 25-17, 25-20 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The 14^th-ranked Gray Wolves tallied 13 blocks and registered five service aces on the night to offset a .122 hitting performance. 
 
Lourdes had six rejections in the opening set, including three straight involving Ben Palma (Dayton, Ohio/Wayne H.S.) that turned a 6-2 deficit into an 11-8 advantage.  The Gray Wolves would maintain the edge the rest of the set, building a five-point advantage late on the way to the win.
 
In set two, Lourdes jumped out to a 14-6 lead on the way to victory. The Gray Wolves tallied six aces in the stanza.  Lourdes held Bethel to just seven kills in the third and went on a 6-1 run midway through the set to take the lead for good and complete the sweep.
 
Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho) led Lourdes with 11 kills and hit .240 while Reshawn Allen (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego H.S.) added seven kills and hit .500.  He added five blocks while Palma finished the night with six.
 
Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) handed out 20 assists running the offense while Tomas Olak (Rowville, Australia/Mazenod College) picked up a team-high eight digs and had five aces.
 
Arthur Barreto led Bethel (6-3, 0-3 WHAC) with nine kills while Sebastian Rodriguez had eight digs.
 
"This was a good win tonight," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "Now we get a little break to focus on getting healthy and improve for our next match."
 
Lourdes (3-7) remains home next Tuesday (Feb. 27) as the Gray Wolves entertain Mount Vernon Nazarene.  The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.