ELGIN, Ill. - The No. 8 Lourdes Men's Volleyball team (13-3, 8-1 in WHAC) lost to No. 2 Saint Xavier (13-2, 4-0 in CCAC) in a 0-3 sweep, but beat Judson (5-9, 1-2 in CCAC) in a 3-2 reverse sweep.  

Overall, the Gray Wolves went 2-1 in their tough Chicagoland non-conference road trip this weekend, and will head back to the Ebeid Rec Center a more battle-tested and experienced squad.

Game #1: Loss vs. No. 2 Saint Xavier
Lourdes dropped the first afternoon match to No. 2 Saint Xavier (Ill.) in straight sets, 18-25, 13-25, 23-25. The Cougars came into the match ranked second in the country and will likely stay at that position after sweeping Judson the game prior to sweeping Lourdes.

Lourdes got down early in the first set with the Cougars leading 7-3. A pair of three-point SXU runs further extended the lead to 17-12. 

Jaber Badarne had a pair of kills to cut the SXU lead to 14-17. The Arrabe, Israel native led the team with eight kills in the match. 

Lourdes was unable to make up the deficit as SXU ended the first set on an 8-4 run to take the opening set advantage.

The second set was even more in the Cougars favor as they set and served extremely well, jumping out to a 13-5 lead. 

Junior libero Brayden Moyars made some solid digs and sets in the second set, finishing the match with a team-leading six digs.

Lourdes lost the final set 23-25 to conclude the straight set loss. The final set was a big improvement, however, as Lourdes began attacking better and serving with fewer errors.

The Gray Wolves started the set leading 13-11 before the Cougars went on a 5-3 run to tie the game at 16 apiece.

Lourdes later took advantage of three straight attack errors by SXU to take a 23-22 late-set lead. However, the Cougars came back to put the match away on a kill by Tysen Myers and two straight aces by Henry Truitt.

The Cougars ended the match with advantages in kills (+15), service aces (+11), blocks (+8), and set assists (+15). The Gray Wolves had seven more digs than the Cougars.

Game #2: Win vs. Judson
Lourdes beat Judson in a thrilling comeback reverse sweep, 14-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-10. The match was just the second five-setter of the year for Lourdes after they previously got reversed swept themselves against WHAC-foe Bethel.

The first set started off pretty rocky for the Terracotta & Gray as they let up six consecutive points to the Eagles. 

Lourdes got three points back but then let up another five-point run to go down 3-12 early on. The Gray Wolves were never able to fully recover as they traded points the rest of the way to lose the set by 11.

The second set with Judson was much more even than the first with freshman outside hitter Tsimafei Lesko once again rising to the occasion. 

The Minsk, Belarus native had five kills in the middle of the set to help Lourdes take the 16-15 lead. Lesko led the team in the match with a career-high 23 kills.

As momentum started to swing back towards Lourdes, the Judson serving started to take control of the set, helping the Eagles to achieve the five-point victory.

The third set was the closest of the night with Lourdes prevailing by three points to extend the match.

Lourdes was down 6-12 early on but they came back to win the set due to excellent defense up at the net by Tsimafei Lesko and Daniel DeLaRosa. Lesko had a pair of blocks and DeLaRosa had four blocks in the set.

Lesko ended the match with a career-high nine blocks to go along with his career-high in kills. DeLaRosa's seven blocks are also a Lourdes career-high for him.

The fourth set seemed to be in Judson's control due to multiple four-point runs giving the Eagles a 14-10 lead with momentum. However, Lourdes wasn't backing down and rattled off two separate four point runs of their own to take a 19-16 lead of their own.

Sophomore outside hitter Felipe Tramontin was terrific in the two runs, notching three kills in the first run and serving efficiently in the second run.

Judson knotted the fourth set at 19 apiece after a few good attacks but Lourdes prevailed in the set due to five Eagles errors over the final 10 points.

The Gray Wolves had new life heading into the deciding set. Judson jumped out to a slight 7-5 lead but Lourdes kept calm and focused. With senior setter Joey Bianco at the service line, Lourdes pummeled six straight points over the net to take an 11-7 lead.

Daniel DeLaRosa and Joey Bianco ended the game with back-to-back kills to seal the spectacular reverse sweep.

The Gray Wolves had season-highs in points (77) and blocks (18) in the victory. Judson held advantages over Lourdes in every statistical category except for blocks, where Lourdes' height and athleticism gave them a pivotal +10 advantage.

Coach Reitz's Post-Match Comments
"In the opening match against Saint Xavier, we played pretty well, we just didn't handle their service pressure well," Coach Reitz said. "I like that we improved after the first two sets though. The second match against Judson was a great example of perseverance. We were tested and had to step up to the challenge, which I am very glad that we did. It's always good to have to play your best volleyball to earn a win.