The No. 11 Lourdes men's volleyball team (8-2, 5-1 in WHAC) defeated (RV) Cornerstone (4-6, 3-3 in WHAC), 25 to 9, 20 to 25, 25 to 21, 25 to 20 on Valentine's Day afternoon in the Ebeid Rec Center.

The Golden Eagles are receiving votes in the NAIA national poll and were one of Lourdes' toughest conference opponents they've had to play up to this point in the season.

Lourdes is now on a four-game winning streak and has won 12 of their last 13 sets since falling to Bethel in a reverse sweep on Feb. 6.

The Gray Wolves remain in third-place in the conference, but have the best overall record in the WHAC at 8-2.

1^st Set
Statistically, the Gray Wolves played their best set of the season thus far in the first set in Saturday's match against the Golden Eagles. Lourdes outscored Cornerstone 25 to nine and held Cornerstone's attacking percentage to .091.

Lourdes started the set on an 8-2 run that included a five-point streak with junior libero Brayden Moyars behind the service line. Not only was Moyars a threat in the game with his serve, but he also tied a career-high with 21 digs in the match. The McCordsville, Ind. native talked post-match on his team's resilience and his keys to success in the match.

"We were mature enough to know that we've been in a match like this before," Moyars said. "Sometimes you'll have a team beat in the first set and then they'll come back in the second. We are mature enough to realize that we just have to be the last team to score 25. I have full trust in Greg. He told me to just sit at my tee and the balls are going to come to me. We've been working at that all year long, from August to now. Greg and Alli have really made me a lot better of a player. The stats will say what they say but really it's all for the team."

The Terracotta and Gray continued the first set domination with two nonconsecutive five-point runs and a 17 to 7 finish to take the set with a season-high 16-point advantage.

2^nd Set
The second set started much like the first with Lourdes leading Cornerstone 8 to 4. The Golden Eagles fought back, however, to make the Gray Wolves lead 14 to 13.

Lourdes sophomore Felipe Tramontin had a great second set with a kill and a high attack percentage. The Brazilian outside hitter finished the match with 15 kills, a career-high for him. He is second on the team with 76 kills on the season. He also had six digs for the third-straight match and fifth time this season. He is averaging 6.0 digs per match.

Tramontin's performance had Lourdes up 17 to 13 before Cornerstone called a timeout to regroup. The minute break ignited something in the Golden Eagles offense as they proceeded to go on a nine-point run out of the timeout, taking the first lead of the match at 22 to 17. The two squads traded three-point runs to end the set with a Cornerstone 25 to 20 victory, evening up the set score at one apiece. The set two loss was the first set dropped in a week and a half by the Gray Wolves.

3^rd Set
The third set went back-and-forth for the first half with the teams tied at six points a piece. The teams then traded a couple five point runs and the score eventually became a 13 to 12 Lourdes lead.

With Tramontin behind the service line, Lourdes went on another five-point run to go up 18 to 12. Senior outside hitter Jaber Badarne had a pair of kills during the run. Badarne finished the match with a team-high 16 kills and a season-high five service aces, including a stretch of three in a row.

The tandem of Tramontin and Badarne on the outside with Moyars receiving digs consistently at the back line helped Lourdes to hold their third set lead at 20 to 14. A three point Golden Eagles run marginally closed the gap, but it wasn't enough as Lourdes took set number three, 25 to 21.

4^th Set
The final set was perhaps the closest yet with essentially the first 28-points being a tennis match of back-and-forth scoring. The score was 14 to 14 before Lourdes went on a five to one run to extend the lead to four. Senior setter Joey Bianco had a massive service ace during the run and a few set assists. Bianco ended the match with 35 assists, his seventh match of the season with 30 or more assists, He is one of only eight players in the NAIA with over 300 assists on the season.

Cornerstone executed a few good serves and closed the fourth set gap to a one-point Lourdes lead. However, the Gray Wolves sealed the deal with a four-point run to end the match with a 3-1 victory.

Stats
Lourdes held the advantage over Cornerstone in kills (+8), aces (+5), set assists (+7) and digs (+7). The Golden Eagles' lone statistical advantage was in blocks, where they led seven to four. Lourdes had season-highs in service aces with nine and digs with 49.

Coach Reitz's Post-Match Comments
"We started off the match today playing exceptionally well," Coach Reitz said. "We were able to force them into some errors that are really uncharacteristic of that team. The second set, they started cleaning up their play and we kind of got a little complacent. It was good to see that in the third and fourth sets, when we had to battle, we had stuff left in the tank. I was pretty proud of the way we played today. We stepped up to the challenges that were presented to us. Obviously, it was an interesting environment for the week, but we were able to focus enough to get a sweep last night and to battle today against a quality opponent to get the win.  

Next Up
The Gray Wolves next match is on the road at No. 6 Lawrence Tech on Friday, Feb. 20 at 7pm. The matchup will be a crucial one for the NAIA poll rankings and the WHAC standings.