Lourdes fought off seven match points on Friday evening, but in the end Lawrence Tech prevailed in a five-set marathon 25-22, 28-26, 30-32, 24-26, 15-12 in the semifinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament held inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.
 
"We made them earn their trip to the finals," head coach Greg Reitz said afterwards.  "We weren't playing our best, but we found a way to dig down deep and keep pushing.  We just didn't do enough in the end to come away with the win."
 
The Gray Wolves battled back from two sets down, fighting off six match points in the third to extend the match which eventually went 2:41. 
 
The opening set had 12 ties and six lead changes before a 6-1 run by the Blue Devils put the tournament's fifth seed in front 16-11.  The top-seeded, and 13^th-ranked, Gray Wolves battled back, scoring seven straight points on the service of Jaber Badarne (Arrabe, Israel/Hof Hasharon), including two of his five aces in the match.  Lawrence Tech battled back with a 6-1 one of its own to retake the lead and build the early advantage in the match.
 
In the second, Lourdes raced out to a 17-9 lead before Lawrence Tech fought back.  A 7-2 run put the Blue Devils in front 24-23 and after the Gray Wolves fought off two set points had one of their own at 25-24.  Lawrence Tech would score the next three points though to build a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Set three saw Lourdes build a 16-9 lead only to see the Blue Devils answer with a 14-3 run of their own to pull in front 23-21.  Lawrence Tech would have six match points before the Gray Wolves battled back with three consecutive points to extend the match.
 
Lourdes (16-11), the WHAC regular season champion, took a 16-11 lead in the fourth set before the Blue Devils fought back to tie the stanza at 18.  The Gray Wolves withstood the run though, not surrendering the lead late before finally finishing off the set to force a decisive fifth frame.
 
Lawrence Tech never trailed in the fifth.  With the set tied at five, the Blue Devils scored the next three points to take the lead for good and finally closed out the Gray Wolves.
 
Eduardo Ayala (Curitiba, Brazil/Colegio Dom Bosco) led all players with 27 kills for the Gray Wolves while adding 12 digs defensively.  Badarne added 15 kills and 12 digs while Vinicius Lopes (Brusque, Brazil/Colegio Osvaldo Carvalho) pitched in 12 kills and 11 digs.
 
Joey Bianco (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder H.S.) dished out 49 assists while directing an offense that hit .179 on the night.
 
Brayden Moyars (McCordsville, Ind./Cathedral H.S.) led the defense with 14 digs while Reshawn Allen (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego H.S.) and Ben Palma (Dayton, Ohio/Wayne H.S.) each registered five blocks.
 
Brendon Down led Lawrence Tech with 16 kills while Matheus Andrade picked up 20 digs.  The Blue Devils had 15 blocks in the match and also took advantage of 26 Gray Wolf service errors.
 
Lawrence Tech (14-14) will advance to Saturday's championship match inside the Ebeid Rec Center, facing Indiana Tech which won the first semifinal in straight sets over Cornerstone.  The first serve is set for 6 p.m.