HIALEAH, Fla. – The Ave Maria volleyball team fell on the road, 3-1, at Florida National on Monday night. After falling behind 2-0, the Lady Gyrenes won the third set before narrowly dropping the fourth set, 25-23.
 
Freshman Erica Chenard and Natalie Rosinski each tallied 10 kills for AMU. Lauren Ruby finished with a team-high 20 assists while Daniela Jaramillo recorded a match-best 18 digs.
 
Ave Maria held a 6-2 advantage on service aces with Savannah Stanton posting a pair of aces to lead the Lady Gyrenes.
 
"Tonight's game wasn't the result we wanted but we are continuing to get better every day," said head coach Katie Latenser. "There are some small things that we can improve on and then we will be in good shape as we get into our conference schedule."
 
Florida National took advantage of some unforced errors by the Blue and Green in the first two sets. Seven errors in the first and 10 in the second helped the Conquistadors to 25-17 and 25-15 set wins to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Ave Maria played much cleaner sets in the third and fourth. One error and 10 kills in the third set helped propel the Lady Gyrenes to a 25-16 win to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.
 
In the fourth, AMU jumped out to a 6-2 lead and maintained their advantage until three straight points by FNU tied the match at 12. The two teams went back-and-forth over the next several points with AMU continuing to hold a slim, 23-20 edge. Florida National closed the match with five straight points to take the set 25-23.
 
Ave Maria moves to 1-6 on the season as they resume Sun Conference play on Wednesday at St. Thomas.