AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria volleyball team picked up its first win of the season, a straight-set victory over Florida National on Saturday. The match was part of a tri-match held at Tom Golisano Field House. In their season opener earlier in the day, Ave Maria fell to Coastal Georgia 3-0.
 
Game 1 – vs. Coastal Georgia

• The Blue and Green played the Mariners tough in the opening set and held an 18-16 lead before a 9-3 run by Coastal Georgia gave the Mariners the first set 25-21.
• Quick starts and a couple big runs allowed Coastal Georgia to take the final two sets, 25-8 and 25-12 to wrap up the three-set win over the Lady Gyrenes.
• Lexy Smith led the Blue and Green with eight kills followed by Hannah Wurster with five kills.
• Veronika Garcia tallied 11 assist while Lauren Ruby recorded nine assists. They both had four digs.
• Monique Rivers led the Lady Gyrenes with nine digs.
• Allie Shannon led Coastal Georgia with nine kills while Cayley Meiners tallied 31 assists for the Mariners.
• Coastal Georgia recorded 37 kills compared to AMU's 22. The Lady Gyrenes committed 12 more errors than the Mariners.

 
Game 2 – vs. Florida National

• The Lady Gyrenes did a good job of putting their season opener behind them and used solid serving by Rivers and Sarah O'Connor to jump out to an 8-1 lead against the Conquistadors in set one. After Florida National was able to keep pace with AMU, the Blue and Green closed the first set on a 7-1 run to take the set 25-15.
• Solid serving again was the story to start set two, this time by Ruby and Lexy Smith, who helped the Lady Gyrenes sprint out to a 14-2 lead. The Blue and Green were able to control the rest of the set and cruise to a 25-15 set win to take a 2-0 advantage on the Conquistadors.
• Rivers won her first seven points at serve to start the third set and help AMU to a 7-0 lead. After Florida National closed to within three, 10-7, the Blue and Green went on a six-point run take a 16-8 advantage. Ave Maria wouldn't look back and went on to take the third set 25-12 to secure the straight set win.
• Lexy Smith reached double-figures in kills with 12 in the match. Wurster finished with eight kills while Bre Holder added six kills for the Lady Gyrenes.
• Lexy Smith tallied two solo blocks and three block assist in the match to bring her season total to seven total blocks.
• Ruby (18) and Garcia (11) combined for 29 assists.
• Monique recorded 18 digs while Rachel Schultz added seven digs for the Blue and Green.
• Brianne Ballow led Florida National with seven kills while Angelica Mujica and Annette Dominguez tied for the team-high with six assists.

 
Up Next

• Ave Maria returns to action next Saturday when they welcome Broward College to Tom Golisano Field House for an exhibition match. The game is slated to start at 1 p.m.