LAKELAND, Fla.- The Ave Maria University volleyball team dropped a Sun Conference match Wednesday night, falling in four sets to tge Fire of Southeastern University. The loss continued a trend in the series between the Gyrenes and the Fire, as the home team has now won seven of the last eight meetings, with an AMU win in Lakeland in 2020 the lone exception. AMU drops one game behind St. Thomas in the SUN standings, and will need a Bobcat loss in the final two weeks of the season to regain the top spot.

Ave Maria came out sluggish in the first set, but eventually rallied to take the opening frame from the Fire. Southeastern scored the first five points of the frame, and held four different five-point leads (5-0, 6-1, 7-2, 8-3). The turning point came when AMU went on an 8-2 run, turning SEU's 8-3 lead into an 11-10 lead for Ave Maria. The Gyrenes then pulled away late in the set, scoring eight of the last 12 points to claim a 25-19 win.

The second set was a shootout, as both teams recorded attack percentages north of .320, and 34 of the 47 points recorded in the set ended on kills. This time, it was Southeastern putting together a rally, as AMU held leads of 20-16 and 21-18 down the stretch. Trailing 21-18, Southeastern proceeded to score seven of the set's final eight points, with a kill from Sylvia Liszewski capping off a 25-22 win to even the match. 

In the third set, Southeastern stormed out to a 6-1 lead, and never relinquished the advantage en route to a 25-20 win. Ave Maria never got closer than three points in the third, which saw the Gyrenes post their worst attack percentage of the match at .093, as well as their most attack errors in a set with six.

Southeastern put the Gyrenes away in the fourth set, using another late surge to do so. The Fire built a six-point lead of 14-8, and led 20-15 before Ave Maria roared back for six straight points, taking a 21-20 lead. With the Gyrenes on the doorstep of a fifth set, Emilia Harding completely took over, pounding five straight kills, the last of her 22 for the match, to give SEU a win over Ave Maria in Lakeland for the second year in a row. 

Cabriella Bouterse led Ave Maria's attack with 15 kills, while Abigail Costlow added ten and Madelyn Haut chipped in with nine. Katie Grose and Lily Witkoski combined for 43 assists over four sets, with Grose posting a double-double of 22 assists and 12 digs and Witkoski adding six blocks to her 21 assists. Victoria Schein led the defensive effort with 25 digs, with Miah Pena (19) and Hannah Jones (14) both in double figures as well.

AMU will head home in search of their 19th consecutive win at Donahue Gym, as the Gyrenes' next opponent will be the Royals of Warner University. The Gyrenes will have a chance to get some momentum back over the next week and a half, as AMU faces the bottom two teams in The Sun Conference standings with two matches against Warner and one next Saturday afternoon at Coastal Georgia.