TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. --- The Ave Maria volleyball team fell in four sets at Florida College on Tuesday night, 26-24, 14-25, 11-25, 19-25. The Lady Gyrenes drop to 11-7 on the season as they ready to resume conference play on Friday night against Florida Memorial.
The Lady Gyrenes took advantage of 10 Florida College errors in the first set to edge the Lady Falcons 26-24. It was a back-and-forth set form the beginning with neither team able to separate themselves from the other.
With the game tied at 15-15, AMU won five of the next six points to take a 20-16 lead and forced Florida College to call a timeout. The Lady Falcons came out of the timeout and won the next five points to take a 21-20 lead on the Blue and Green. Still tied at 24-all, Ave Maria took the final two points to win the set 26-24.
In the second set, Florida College went on a 7-1 run early in the set to take a 10-4 lead into an Ave Maria timeout. A six-point run for the Lady Falcons a few minutes later made the score 16-6 in favor of Florida College. FC went on to win the set 25-14.
With Ave Maria leading 6-5 in the third set, Florida College took control of the game with an 8-1 run to take a 13-7 lead. The Lady Falcons closed the game on a nine point run to take the set 25-11.
Trailing 6-4, the Lady Gyrenes won four straight points to take a 8-6 lead early in the fourth set. With the game tied at 10-all, a 6-1 run by Florida College put AMU behind 16-11. The Blue and Green kept within striking distance late in the third set before a 4-1 run to close out the set gave FC the game 25-19.
Lexy Smith had 13 kills to lead the Lady Gyrenes. Veronika Garcia finished with 17 assists followed by Lauren Ruby with 10. Rachel Schultz and Ruby each finished with double-digit digs with 13 and 11, respectively. Schultz also had two service aces.
The Lady Gyrenes return to Tom Golisano Field House this weekend for a pair of conference contests. The Blue and Green host Florida Memorial at 7 p.m. on Friday night before hosting St. Thomas on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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