The Ave Maria University volleyball team fell in three sets on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 17-25, 18-25, 16-25 defeat at the hands of Keiser University in West Palm Beach. The Gyrenes dropped to 2-6 in Sun Conference play, while Keiser moved to 5-3.

In the opening set, Ave Maria rallied from an early 12-4 deficit to score seven of the following ten points and pull within 15-11. Keiser then scored eight of the next eleven points to pull away. The second set was a more closely contested affair, with the Gyrenes within five points for the majority of the set. Similar to the first set, Keiser went on an 8-4 run to close the second. An 8-2 run to start the third propelled Keiser to the final victory.

Lexy Smith was the leading attacker for the Gyrenes, logging ten kills with only two attack errors. Smith was responsible for 12.5 of Ave Maria's 38 points on the day. Hannah Wurster had six kills, and Jessica Sanchez added five. Lauren Ruby had 25 assists, and Jessica Schein posted team highs with ten digs and two aces. Lexie Andric also had seven digs in the losing effort for Ave Maria. Of the 12 players to see time for the Gyrenes, nine recorded at least two digs.

Keiser's top attacker was Chantelle Zamora, who registered eleven kills to go with six kills. Nicole Papineau had 38 assists, and two Seahawks – Nikki McKown (11) and Morgan Leff (10) posted double figure numbers in digs.

Ave Maria returns home on Monday for the second match in a stretch of four in six days. The Gyrenes play host to the Tigers of Edward Waters College, with first serve scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Tom Golisano Field House. The Gyrenes also play on the road on Tuesday night in Miami Gardens against Florida Memorial.