JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- The Lady Gyrenes completed a perfect day one of the Edward Waters Invitational defeating the host Lady Tigers in straight sets. Earlier in the day, Ave Maria took down Florida Memorial 3-0. Ave Maria improves to 3-1 on the season with the two wins.
 
Game Recap
 

• After a back-and-forth start to the match, Ave Maria was able to take a 13-12 lead midway through the opening set on a kill by Bre Holder. A few minutes later, an ace by Rachel Schultz increased the Lady Gyrene lead to three, 18-15. After a run by Edward Waters tied the game at 18-all, four straight points by the Lady Gyrenes gave the Blue and Green some breathing room at 22-18. Leading 23-19, Lexie Andric and Lexy Smith recorded back-to-back kills to close out the first set for the Gyrenes 25-19.
• The Lady Gyrenes came out firing in set two and jumped out to an early 6-2 lead behind strong serving by Mercedyz Mitchell and a pair of kills by Bre Holder. Leading 11-8, the Blue and Green won six of the next seven points to extend their advantage to 17-9. Another run by Ave Maria late in the set allowed the Lady Gyrenes to close out the set 25-13.
• After two service aces by Sarah O'Connor and four kills by Lexy Smith, the Lady Gyrenes found themselves up 10-4 early on in the third set. The Lady Tigers made a run of their own to pull within three, 11-8, but the Blue and Green responded by taking nine of the next 10 points to push their advantage to 20-9. The Lady Gyrenes went on to take the set 25-13 to complete the three-set victory.
• The Blue and Green out blocked the Lady Tigers 13-1 and served up six more aces than Edward Waters (10-4). The Lady Gyrenes had 36 kills compared to 24 by the Lady Tigers. AMU hit at a season best .353 clip on the night, including an impressive .571 percentage in the second set.

 
Stat Leaders
 

• Lexy Smith tallied 12 kills and six total blocks to lead the Lady Gyrenes.
• Bre Holder and Ashley St. Hubin each recorded six kills.
• Mercedyz Mitchell and Veronika Garcia each reached double-digit assists with 16 and 12, respectively.
• Rachel Schultz (3), Sarah O'Connor (3) and Jessica Schein (2) each fired multiple service aces.

 
Up Next
 

• The Lady Gyrenes return to the court tomorrow afternoon when they take on Concordia College (Ala.) at 12 p.m. and Tougaloo College (Miss.) at 4 p.m. to conclude the Edward Waters Invitational.