AVE MARIA, Fla. --- The Ave Maria volleyball team hosted Pasco-Hernando State College and Florida National on Friday afternoon. The Lady Gyrenes fell 3-0 to Pasco-Hernando in an exhibition and 3-1 to Florida National.
 
Pasco-Hernando won a close opening set of their match, 25-20, by using a six-point run midway through the set. AMU and PHSC were tied 9-9 before the six-straight points game Pasco a 15-9 advantage. PHSC won the second set 25-18 and closed out the exhibition with a 25-10 third set win.
 
Natasha Rosinski led AMU in their opening match with eight kills followed by Hannah Presson with five and Savannah Stanton with four. Lauren Ruby finished with nine assists while Cassie Davies tallied eight assists and seven digs. Daniela Jaramillo totaled 12 digs in the match.
 
Against Florida National, the Conquistadors jumped out to a seven-point lead in the opening set (11-4), only to see AMU battle back to tie the set at 15-all. A quick four-point spurt put FNU in front 20-16, an advantage they would hold for a 25-20 first set win.
 
In set two, Florida National won a couple early points and built a 4-5-point lead. The Conquistadors wouldn't relinquish that margin the rest of the set and finished with a 25-17 edge.
 
Ave Maria won their first set of the season in the third set. The Lady Gyrenes used strong serving by Jaramillo and Stanton to jump out to a 10-2 lead. Five straight points on Davis' serve made it 15-4 in favor of AMU. The Blue and Green took the set by ending a four-point run FNU to win the third, 25-15.
 
In the fifth, the Lady Gyrenes held the lead for most of the first half of the set and led 14-12 before a seven-point run by the Conquistador made it 19-14. FNU went on to win the set, 25-19, and the match, 3-1.
 
Erica Chenard tallied a match-high 13 kills. Ruby collected a double-double with 25 assists and 12 digs. She also had five kills. Bre Holder added nine kills while Presson had 11 digs and five kills.  
 
Ave Maria returns to the court on Saturday when they open Sun Conference play at Johnson & Wales at 2 p.m.