Box Score SYLVANIA, Ohio – The 13^th-ranked Lourdes Men's Volleyball team (22-5, 15-3 in WHAC) swept Mount Vernon Nazarene (11-14, 8-10 in WHAC) on Tuesday evening in the final match ever hosted in the Ebeid Rec Center.

Lourdes hosted the first round WHAC Tournament matchup because they slipped to the No. 3 seed after Indiana Tech upset Bethel in a regular season finale sweep on the road. Mount Vernon Nazarene (MVNU) came into the tournament as the No. 6 seed and got swept by Lourdes twice already this season.

The dominant win moves the Gray Wolves on to the WHAC Tournament semi-finals on Friday, April 17 at 7:30 PM against the No. 2 seed, 12^th-ranked Indiana Tech. Lourdes bested the Warriors in a five-set thriller in early March, but got swept on the road by Indiana Tech last week. The winner of game three will take on the winner of No. 1 – seed Bethel and No. 4 – seed Lawrence Tech on Saturday, April 18 in the WHAC Tournament Championship. Lourdes will likely have to win the WHAC Tournament to make the NAIA National Tournament as they've slipped to 13^th in the national rankings.  

1^st Set: W, 25-21
The opening set was a back-and-forth affair with the two squads trading the first 30 points as Lourdes was tied with Mount Vernon at 15 apiece. Despite the game being close, Lourdes seemed to control the tempo early on, piecing together multiple three-point runs and never surrendering the lead through the first half of the set.

The Cougars briefly took a 16-15 lead, but were thwarted by a crucial 7-3 Gray Wolves' run that put Lourdes up 22-19. During the run, sophomore outside hitter Felipe Tramontin had three kills and solid serving. Tramontin had a great match with 10 kills, three aces, and five digs. The Parana, Brazil native has held the Cougars' number this season, beating his career-high in kills and aces against them the last time they faced off.

Lourdes rode Tramontin's run to the set one victory after closing out the set on a 3-2 run to win by four points.

2^nd Set: W, 25-17
The second set was more in favor of the Gray Wolves than the first. Lourdes controlled the match early on with efficient passing by Joey Bianco and strong kills by Tramontin and Ben Palma.

An 11-2 Lourdes run put the Gray Wolves up 17-9 late in the set. During the run, senior middle blocker Ben Palma connected with five kills. Palma had eight kills total in the match, increasing his career attack percentage to .328, good for 9^th-best in program history. Palma's season attack percentage has risen just over .400, good for the 5^th-best in a single season in program history.

Lourdes' set two lead got up to double digits before the Cougars went on two late three-point runs. The Gray Wolves stopped the momentum with a set sealing Ben Palma kill to go up 2-0.

3^rd Set: W, 26-24
The final set was a tail of two halves. Lourdes led 10-2 to start off the set. Senior middle blocker Daniel De La Rosa notched four kills in the first 16 points to eventually give Lourdes an 11-5 lead. De La Rosa's career attack percentage has climbed to .391, the 2^nd-best in Lourdes history.

Despite the red hot start, MVNU went on an 18-10 run to tie the set at 20. A couple subsequent Tommy Tierney kills put the Cougars up 22-21 for their first lead of the set. Head Coach Greg Reitz called a timeout to regroup the team. De La Rosa came out of the timeout with a thunderous kill to tie the game at 22. The match seesawed for a few more points with service and attack errors as Lourdes eventually went down 23-24.

With the sweep on the line, Felipe Tramontin got a nice pass from Joey Bianco for the cross-court kill to tie the game at 24. Trace Bauersfeld then subbed in to serve, ending the match by forcing a MVNU attack error and serving a dominant ace.

Stats
Lourdes held statistical advantages over MVNU in kills (+8), assists (+4), aces (+6), and digs (+2). Both teams were tied with six blocks in the match. Jaber Badarne led all players with 11 kills, Felipe Tramontin had a match-leading three aces, Joey Biacno led with 35 assists, and Brayden Moyars led with 17 digs.

Coach Greg Reitz's Post-Match Comments
"Going into Indiana Tech, we need to continue to serve well and pass well so we can run our offense as efficiently as possible," Coach Reitz said. "My mind still hasn't wrapped around the fact that we're not coming back (to the Rec Center) beyond this season, because Lourdes is where I saw myself at until retirement. 10 years (in the Rec) went by in a blink of an eye. It was nice to go out with a win but it's tough that it's done."

Next Up
The WHAC Tournament semifinal matchup is set for Friday, April 17 at 7:30 pm between Lourdes and Indiana Tech.