Grand Rapids, Mich. – The (RV) Aquinas men's volleyball squad was back home inside of the Sturrus Center tonight (Mar. 10) to take on the No. 9-ranked Lourdes Gray Wolves. AQ nearly topped Lourdes earlier this season but fell in five sets on the road. After coming off a huge five-set win against Goshen, the Saints were looking to roll that momentum into tonight's matchup.

AQ appeared to be right on the verge of upsetting Lourdes, but the Gray Wolves pulled out the win right at the very end of the five-set match. The Gray Wolves took the final three points of the fifth set to complete the comeback victory. LU won the match by set scores of 25-19, 25-27, 18-25, 25-18, and 16-14.

After a six-kill fifth set, Julian Armendano broke the Aquinas men's volleyball single-match record with a 26-kill match. Armendano set the record of 25 kills last season against Cornerstone and has matched that 25-kill mark twice since setting the record. He managed to get past that mark tonight with 26 kills on 49 attacks with an impressive .429 hitting percentage.

The first set started close with the visiting Gray Wolves holding a narrow lead. Aquinas responded early with a 3-0 run to give AQ its first lead of the match with the score at 8-7. Joshua Boothroyd was a part of all three points in the run, contributing two kills and picking up a block assist with Chase Gil.

Lourdes responded to the run in a strong way, taking seven of the next eight points to establish a 14-9 advantage. Head coach Michael Crane used his first timeout of the match to stop the growing momentum from the visitors. Boothroyd picked up the ensuing point, but Lourdes followed that kill with a 4-1 run to extend its lead to 18-11.

Aquinas managed to pull a few points back, but the Gray Wolves ended the first set with a 25-19 win.

The second set started similarly to the first with the visitors maintaining a slim advantage at the start of the set. However, a massive 7-0 run from the home team put AQ out in front 14-9. Leo-Paul Rousseau, Armendano, Boothroyd, Gil, and Carter Sabo all contributed points to the seven-point run.

Several points later, with a 19-13 lead in hand, Aquinas appeared to be on track for an easy second-set victory. Lourdes had other ideas and took five of the subsequent six points to narrow the deficit to just two points. Armendano stopped the run, but LU responded with another 4-0 run and claimed a 22-21 advantage late in the set.

A Gil kill on the following point tied the set at 22 and Boothroyd gave AQ the lead back with an ace. Both teams traded the next five points to tie the set at 25 as the two sides tied the score 11 times throughout the set. A massive kill from Armendano gave AQ another set-point opportunity with the score at 26-25. Boothroyd then ended the set on the next point with a massive swing off of Colin Ilagan's fantastic dig.

Aquinas continued the positive momentum into the third set and took an early advantage after a pair of kills from Armendano. With the score at 6-4, AQ went on a 5-0 run that featured three kills from Boothroyd. Neither side managed to put together any runs throughout the set as Aquinas maintained a consistent and comfortable lead.

Sabo picked up a couple more blocks down the stretch as the Saints marched to a 25-18 victory in the third set after a service ace from Lourdes. Armendano and Boothroyd each tallied up five kills throughout the third set.

The Gray Wolves turned the tides in the fourth set. Following a close start to the fourth set, Lourdes went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 lead. However, Armendano did his best to keep the Saints in the set. He scored five of AQ's next seven points to get the Saints back within two points with the score at 18-16. Lourdes used its first timeout of the set to make an attempt at stopping the AQ momentum.

That timeout worked as intended with Lourdes taking the ensuing four points to claim a late six-point advantage. Aquinas couldn't quite manage to put a late rally together and LU won the fourth set 25-18 to set up a suspenseful fifth set.

Armendano remained hot going into the fifth set as he opened the final set with a massive kill. A block from Sabo and Gil along with an error from Lourdes gave Aquinas a quick 3-0 advantage.

Lourdes scored three of the next four points, but Armendano was, again, the one to stop the Lourdes momentum. Any time Lourdes started a run, an Armendano kill was there to answer to start the set. A pair of errors from Lourdes had the Saints in front 9-6 and forced LU to use its first timeout.

Lourdes came out of the timeout hot, taking four of the ensuing five points to tie the set at 10 and force Crane to use his first timeout of the set.

Armendano tied his record with his 25th kill of the match on the next point following the timeout. Lourdes responded to tie the set again, but Armendano broke the tie on the subsequent point to set the record. On the next play, a bad set from Lourdes gave AQ a 13-11 lead.

Eduardo Ayala responded with two kills for the Gray Wolves to tie the match at 13. He was looking for three straight kills on the ensuing point, but a solo block from Sabo gave Aquinas a match-point opportunity.

AQ looked to win the match on the next point, but an unfortunate error from the Saints tied up the set once again. With the match on the line, Lourdes managed to string two service aces together to win the fifth set 16-14 and complete a comeback from 2-1 down in the match.

As a team, Lourdes held the advantage across most statistical categories, leading in kills (66-56), hitting percentage(.333-.264), aces (7-5), assists (63-54), and digs (42-40). Aquinas held a large lead in blocks throughout the match (14-8).

In addition to his record-setting 26-kill performance, Armendano had one assist, one ace, one solo block, one block assist, and seven digs.

Boothroyd ended the match with 16 kills (.179), two assists, three aces, two solo blocks, and 11 digs. He led the team in both aces and digs.

Rousseau ended the match with 46 assists and reached 1,000 career assists in the third set. He also had one kill, one ace, one solo block, and eight digs.

Sabo and Gil continue to be the blocking force for AQ this season. Sabo ended the match with two solo blocks and five block assists. Gil had seven block assists to go along with eight Gil kills (.538).

Aquinas has another tough matchup tomorrow (Mar. 11) against the No. 13-ranked Indiana Tech Warriors. The first set is scheduled for 3:00 PM inside the Sturrus Center.