TAVARES, Fla.- The Ave Maria University beach volleyball played their first two matches at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships, and earned a postseason victory with a dramatic 3-2 win over Corban University. The Gyrenes finished 1-1 on the day, and will play Saturday in the silver bracket, with a chance to finish among the top five teams in the nation.

Ave Maria's opener with Corban ultimately came down to a pair of three-set matches. The first point of the day for the Gyrenes was provided by Alejandra Suarez and Katie O'Donnell. The pair cruised to a 21-15, 21-13 win at the number four position. Corban won two other matches in straight sets, earning victories at the number two and five spots. Corban led the match 2-1, and needed to win one of the final two matches to take the contest.

At the number one spot, the AMU team of Flavia Rusterholz and Katie Grose bounced back from a 21-19 defeat in the first set, earning a 21-16 victory in the second to force a decisive third. In that third set, Rusterholz and Grose kept coming up with points at crucial times, and defeated Corban's team of Simona Lucchina and Harmony Hunter to even the match at two.

The final match to finish was between Corban's Tessa McFetridge and Tyra Ching, and Ave Maria's Victoria Schein and Lily Grasso. Schein and Grasso won the first set, 21-19, and McFetridge and Ching countered with a 21-19 win in the second.

In the decisive third set, McFetridge and Ching built a 12-8 lead, and had three match points. However, the Gyrene duo fought off each of those attempts to end it, and eventually came through with a 19-17 win to claim the match for Ave Maria.

AMU's second match of the day came against the Warriors of Webber International University. The Sun Conference regular season champions won 4-1 over the Gyrenes, with the lone point earned by Rusterholz and Grose at the top spot. The pair won 21-19, 18-21, 15-13 over the top Webber duo of Montana Pelak and Julia Ferraro.

After a 1-1 record on the first day of competition, the Gyrenes will play in the NAIA Silver Bracket, and could finish as high as fifth in the nation with two wins. The first match of the day will feature AMU taking on Sun Conference rival St. Thomas University at 9 a.m. Ave Maria's final match of the AVCA Small College Beach Championships will be either a fifth or seventh place match against either Warner University or St. Andrews University.