LAKE WALES, Fla. --- The Ave Maria University volleyball team defeated Warner in straight sets on Saturday to improve to 6-8 in The Sun Conference play. Ave Maria's win, along with St. Thomas' win over Webber on Saturday, clinched the Gyrenes a spot in the 2019 Sun Conference Volleyball Tournament.
 
It will be the first time since the 2013 season that the Gyrenes will participate in the conference tournament. Ave Maria will be the six seed in the tournament and will play at the three-seed on Tuesday, November 12. The top four seeds are still to be determined with St. Thomas as the five-seed.
 
Warner led for most of the first set with the Gyrenes keeping within 2-3 points. Trailing 17-15, Ave Maria finally broke through with five-straight points to take a 20-17 advantage. The Royals did come back to tie the set at 23 before a kill by Katie Grose followed by a Grose service ace closed out the set for the Gyrenes, 25-23.
 
The Gyrenes took control of the second set from the start. A 3-0 and two 4-0 runs early on gave the Gyrenes an 11-3 lead. Leading 14-8, six straight points by the Blue and Green extended their advantage to 12. AMU wrapped up the second set 25-11 to take a 2-0 lead. In a nearly flawless second set, the Gyrenes hit .382 with 14 kills to one attack errors.
 
Taking advantage of a few attack errors by the Royals, Ave Maria was able to build an early advantage in the third set, 10-4. Warner began to battle back and pulled to within two, 16-14. With the Gyrenes leading 19-17, AMU got kills by Flavia Rusterholz, Madelyn Haut, and Natalia De Leon and a service ace by Victoria Schein to take a 23-17 advantage. Another kill by Haut put AMU to match point. The Gyrenes converted their third match point on a kill by McKenna Tyson to win the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-0.
 
Tyson and Haut led AMU with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Tyson also added seven digs and Haut had three block assists. Grose finished with 26 assists. Schein led AMU with 16 digs and three service aces.
 
Ave Maria hit .255 on the afternoon with 39 kills to 13 errors. The .255 hitting percentage is the second-best percentage for the Gyrenes this season. They hit .266 against Warner in Ave Maria on September 28.
 
Ave Maria finishes the regular season with three matches next week. AMU is home against Trinity in a non-conference match on Tuesday and hosts Johnson & Wales Wednesday for senior night. The Gyrenes conclude the regular season next Saturday at Webber.