Ellison looks to contribute

Lourdes University 5-foot-8 sophomore outside hitter Kortney Ellison had a solid freshman season last spring and can play multiple roles for the Gray Wolves, says coach Greg Reitz. 

She has two kills, playing in three sets so far for the Gray Wolves. As a freshman, she had 93 kills (1.86 per set), which was fourth best on the team, 67 digs (1.34/set) and 14 service aces in 16 matches and 50 sets. Ellison had a season-high 14 kills against Aquinas and recorded 12 digs as part of a double-double versus Madonna. She also had three service aces against Madonna.

 Ellison was a four-year letter winner for the Flyers, a first team All-Northern Buckeye Conference selection as a senior after earning second team All-NBC honors as a junior, and was an honorable mention All-NBC honoree in 2017. She was a first team all-district pick in 2019 after earning second team accolades as a junior. Playing for coach Amy Vorst, she was the team’s Most Valuable Player as a senior and also lettered in basketball.

Kortney is the daughter of Larry and Kerri Ellison and her major is digital and media studies.

Lourdes opened the 2021 season suffering a 25-13, 25-18, 25-16 defeat at the hands of Saint Xavier inside the Shannon Center in Chicago, Ill.

 “We looked a bit nervous from the start and they took advantage of it,” Reitz said afterwards.  “They played a very aggressive match both from the service line and offensively and we were unable to match it.  We will look to regroup for tomorrow and put together a better team performance.”

In Lourdes second match, Alli Plasencio (Central Catholic) became just the third Lourdes player to reach 1,000 digs for her career, but the Gray Wolves dropped a pair of matches inside of Devos Gymnasium in Palos Heights, Ill.  Lourdes fell 25-17, 25-21, 25-21 in its opener against Judson before dropping an 18-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-17 decision in match two against host Trinity Christian.

 “We need to be the more aggressive serving team and the better passing team to give ourselves a chance to win,” Reitz said.  “Today we were not.  We will have to get to work to make that happen in the future.”

 Plasencio entered the day just 11 digs shy of the 1,000 mark and surpassed the century mark as part of a 17-dig effort in the opener against Judson.  She added another 14 digs against Trinity Christian and now has 1,020 in her four years with the Gray Wolves.

The Gray Wolves are looking to rebound from a 5-13 campaign in which Lourdes posted a 5-11 mark in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play, finishing in eighth place.  The Gray Wolves fell to Aquinas in the quarterfinals of the WHAC tournament.

Reitz returns 12 players from the squad that competed in the spring and has added seven freshmen and a transfer while looking to find the perfect lineup for the upcoming season. Lourdes was picked fifth in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference preseason poll. The Gray Wolves tallied 68 points, edging out Siena Heights by one, in the balloting of the league’s 11 coaches.  

Reitz is in his 12th season on the Lourdes bench and has a 203-146 (.582) record at the helm of the Gray Wolves.  In his 14th season overall as a women’s head coach, Reitz has a 223-181 (.552) career mark.  He is the only head coach in Lourdes program’s history and was named WHAC Coach of the Year in 2015.

The Gray Wolves have 31 regular season matches on the slate this year, including 12 at home inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center. The Gray Wolves entered the season 203-146 all-time in program history. 

Lourdes is 68-56 in road matches and 41-51 in neutral site contests. (— from Ryan Wronkowicz/Lourdes Athletics)