The two top teams in the WHAC – and two of the best teams in the country – showed why on Friday night (Feb. 14) in the Sturrus Center in a back-and-forth five-set thriller in Grand Rapids. #4 Aquinas won the first and third sets, while #9 Lourdes took sets two and four before prevailing in a 15-10 fifth set victory between the top-10 teams.
AQ and Lourdes met in last year's WHAC Championship match (the Gray Wolves won) and again in the NAIA National Tournament (Aquinas was victorious), while this was the first meeting in 2020. Friday's final puts the teams in a tie for first place in the league standings at 3-1 apiece. Overall, AQ is 11-5, while Lourdes is 11-2.
The match was played at an extremely high level between the two schools. There were 28 tie scores (16 in the fourth set alone) and 12 lead changes, with the final line score showing Lourdes win 18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, and 15-10.
Lourdes was strong offensively, holding a 69-49 advantage in kills and hitting .229 to AQ's .194 mark. While the Gray Wolves also led in aces (5-3), digs (65-57), and assists (62-46), they accumulated a number of errors, as well. Lourdes had 31 hitting errors (AQ had just 21) and the Gray Wolves recorded 17 service errors, to just nine for Aquinas. The Saints also held a 10-3 advantage in total blocks.
Joshua Boothroyd led the way for AQ with a match-high 24 kills and hit .259 on 58 attempts, while adding nine digs, three block assists, and an ace. Ruben Lopez neared a double-double with nine digs, eight kills, and three blocks (two solo). Zane Moothart added seven kills, seven digs, two blocks, and an ace.
Colby Elder posted a 42-assist, 10-dig double-double and Kelsey Yogi picked up a team-high 17 digs. Daniel De La Rosa put away six kills in only nine attempts for a .667 hitting percentage, while taking part in four blocks (one solo). Robert Valerio chipped in four block assists, three kills, and three digs.
Lourdes led set one 7-3 before Aquinas responded and took an 11-8 advantage on four consecutive LU errors. A 4-0 Saints run (two kills from Boothroyd, one from De La Rosa and Lopez) made it 15-10, but Lourdes stayed close at 20-17. Boothroyd bookended a pair of kills around two Gray Wolf errors and the Saints took the set, 25-18.
AQ fell behind in set two early, but made it 16-12 after a Lourdes error. The Gray Wolves responded with four straight kills and a 20-12 lead. They would tie the match at 1-1 with the 25-20 win.
The Saints took a 5-2 lead in the third set, but the scored would be tied at points 15, 19, and 21. AQ went in front 23-21 on back-to-back kills from De La Rosa and the Saints took the set after two straight Lourdes errors for the 25-22 triumph.
Set four was tied 16 times and there were seven lead changes. Lopez posted two late kills at 21-21 and to keep the Saints within a point at 23-22, but Lourdes finished the frame with a 25-22 win to send the match to the fifth set.
Lourdes jumped in front 3-1 and eventually 6-2 in the fifth frame. The Gray Wolves looked in control at 11-6, but AQ answered with a Valerio-Moothart combined block, another Lourdes error, and a De La Rosa solo rejection to make it 11-9 and give Aquinas a chance. Lourdes would finish off the match, however, by scoring four of the last five points to earn the hard-fought win.
Aquinas is off until next Saturday (Feb. 22), when the Saints head to Fort Wayne to take on Indiana Tech at 7:00 p.m.
