LAKE WALES, Fla. --- The Lady Gyrene volleyball team dropped a hard-fought three set match at Warner on Friday night. Ave Maria now has nearly two weeks off before taking on Florida Memorial on senior night on Oct. 30.

Lexy Smith and Hannah Wurster led the Blue and Green with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.  Jessica Schein led AMU with 35 assists while also tallying 11 digs. Mary Eckard had 15 digs to lead three Lady Gyrenes in double-digit digs.

AMU hung with Warner in the opening set, trailing by three, 19-16, late in the set. But the Lady Royals closed the set on a 6-1 run to take the set 25-17.

In the second set, Ave Maria jumped out to a 6-1 lead early in the set and were able to hold onto that lead until Warner tied the set at 17-17. With AMU leading 21-20, Warner closed the set on a five point run to steal the set 25-21.

The Lady Gyrenes fell behind by as many as 10, 15-5, in the third set before rallying to pull within two, 22-20. The Blue and Green then got block assists by Wurster and Meredith Morgan and a solo block by Morgan to tie the match at 22-22. After Warner took the next two points, AMU was able to fight off one set point but not the second as the Royals won the set 25-23.

Ave Maria finished with more kills than Warner, 43-36, but weren't able to overcome 13 more hitting errors than they Royals (24-11).