In a battle of NAIA top-15 programs, 10^th-ranked Saint Xavier squeaked out a 19-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-17, 15-7 victory over 13^th-ranked Lourdes on Tuesday evening inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
The loss snapped the Gray Wolves' 10-match winning streak.
 
"It was a good battle tonight," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We just didn't play well enough to win."
 
The Gray Wolves started fast jumping out to an 8-2 lead.  Lourdes hit .571 in the opening set while also taking advantage of nine Cougar service errors to take the early lead in the match. 
 
The second set was just the opposite, as the Gray Wolves managed just six kills and hit -.077.  Lourdes led 7-2 before a 9-2 Saint Xavier run put the visitors in front.  The Cougars finished the set on a 23-11 spurt to even the contest.
 
Lourdes rallied from 8-3 down in the third to take a 24-19 lead.  The Cougars fought off five set points before the Gray Wolves finally closed out the set.  An early 7-2 run in the fourth by Saint Xavier allowed the Cougars to seize control on the way to evening the match.
 
Saint Xavier scored 14 of the final 19 points in the fifth set to pull out the win.  The Cougars hit .400 without a error in set five while Lourdes hit -.118 with just four kills.
 
Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) led Lourdes offensive with 17 kills while Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) dished out 31 assists for an offense that hit just .100 on the night.
 
Defensively, Brayden Moyars (McCordsville, Ind./Cathedral H.S.) picked up 12 digs while Reshawn Allen (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego H.S.) tallied five blocks.
 
Jan Lopuch led Saint Xavier (13-8) with 14 kills and 10 digs while Matt Penanala added 12 kills and Andres Velez picked up 18 digs.
 
Lourdes (11-8) continues its final homestand of the season on Friday evening as the Gray Wolves host Aquinas.  The opening serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the Ebeid Rec Center.