JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- The Ave Maria volleyball team travels to Jacksonville this weekend to compete at the Edward Waters College Invitational. The Lady Gyrenes will take on Florida Memorial and host Edward Waters on Friday before concluding the invitational against Concordia (Ala.) and Tougaloo IMiss.) on Saturday.
 
Live stats and video will be provided through the Ave Maria GameCentral portal.
 
LADY GYRENES PREVIEW
 
The Blue and Green come into the week with a 1-1 record after splitting a home tri-match against College of Coastal Georgia and Florida National on Aug. 15. The Lady Gyrenes fell to Coastal Georgia 3-0 before defeating Florida National in straight sets.
 
Lexy Smith led the Blue and Green with 20 kills during the tri-match with Hannah Wurster also tallying double-digit kills over the two games with 13. Lexy Smith also led the Lady Gyrenes in total blocks with seven. Monique Rivers recorded a team-high 27 digs in the two matches while freshman Lauren Ruby tallied 27 assists.
 
SCOUTING FLORIDA MEMORIAL
 
Florida Memorial is off to an 0-4 start to the season with four-consecutive straight set losses. The Lions fell to fellow Sun Conference opponents Keiser and St. Thomas at the St. Thomas tri-match on Aug. 20 before falling to Dakota State and Baker University (Kan.) at the Athletes Meals Volleyball Classic. Raquel Laing leads the Lady Lions with 21 kills on the season. She recorded a season-high nine kills against Keiser in Florida Memorial's season opener. Keanna Lockridge will be the primary setter for Florida Memorial. She has totaled 40 assist over the four games this season.
 
SCOUTING EDWARD WATERS
 
Edward Waters opens their season Friday morning when they take on Tougaloo College (Miss.) at 10 a.m. The Lady Tigers finished the 2014 season with an 11-20 overall record. As a team, they ranked first in the NAIA in service aces per game with 2.7 and fouth in total service aces with 292. The Lady Tigers return top server Kaylin Davison. Davison led EWC with 90 service aces last season and ranked first in the NAIA in both service aces per game (0.990) and total service aces (90).
 
SCOUTING CONCORDIA (ALA.)
 
Concordia College (Ala.) opened their 2015 slate last week against Southern University New Orleans. They will take on Ave Maria, Florida Memorial, Brewton-Parker and host Edward Waters this weekend at the Invitational.
 
SCOUTING TOUGALOO (MISS.)
 
Tougaloo College opens thier 2015 campaign this weekend. The Lady Bulldogs are coming off a 8-20 season but return their leading server and blocker in Caitlyn Beasley. Beasley recorded 44 service acces in 2014 and 58 total blocks. Chassidy Harris, who tallied 272 kills in 2014, also returns for the Lady Bulldogs.