AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University volleyball team completed the regular season with a decisive victory Saturday afternoon, as the Gyrenes swept the Lions of Florida Memorial at Donahue Gym. Ave Maria's win was their sixth straight sweep in the series against Florida Memorial, and allowed the Gyrenes to finish the regular season with an 11-3 SUN record and a 19-5 record overall. Prior to the match, the Gyrenes honored the most prolific senior class in program history on Senior Day
Ave Maria jumped out to an early lead on the Lions, trailing for just one point before taking control. AMU's major surge came in the middle portion of the frame, as an 8-1 Ave Maria run turned an 8-7 lead into a comfortable edge of 16-8. The Gyrenes would never look back from there, as Florida Memorial never again got closer than five points. On AMU's second chance at set point, an FMU service error concluded an Ave Maria win of 25-16.
The second set saw the Gyrenes at their most dominant. Ave Maria posted an absurd .481 attack percentage in the second, and forced the Lions into more errors (8) than kills (7). Ave Maria never trailed in the second set, and never allowed the Lions to score two points in a row. The set ended with a surge of five straight points from the Gyrenes, capped off with a block from Abigail Costlow and Lily Witkoski to close out a 25-12 win.
In the final set of the regular season, the Gyrenes pulled away from the Lions, but had to fight off a late rally to finish off a sweep. AMU used another mid-set surge, this time using an 8-2 run to turn a 8-8 tie into a 16-10 lead for the hosts. The Gyrenes built their lead to 24-16, but the Lions were able to fight off four consecutive match points before Cabriella Bouterse finished off the match with a kill, giving AMU a 25-20 win in the third.
On her Senior Day, Cabriella Bouterse was completely unstoppable from the outside hitter position. On just 22 swings, Bouterse powered down 14 kills without an error, good for a .545 hitting percentage. Fellow senior Madelyn Haut added 10 kills, while Abigail Costlow had eight kills and a team-high four blocks. Lily Witkoski handled most of the setting duties with 23 assists, while Katie Grose chipped in with 12. Victoria Schein led the defense with 15 digs, putting her north of 1,500 for her career.
With the regular season concluded, the Gyrenes turn their attention to defending their Sun Conference Tournament title. Ave Maria will enter the tournament as the number two seed for the third year in a row. In the semifinals, AMU will face either third-seeded Keiser or sixth-seeded Webber International. AMU split a pair of five-setters with Keiser this season, and swept two matches with Webber. No.1 St. Thomas, No. 4 Southeastern, and No. 5 Florida Memorial are on the other side of the bracket.
