LAURINBURG, N.C.- Three years of Sun Conference volleyball. Three second place finishes for the Ave Maria Gyrenes.

From 2021 to 2023, the Gyrenes had one of the best programs in the conference, but never got the needed wins to finish at the top of the table.

The 2024 team changed all that.

Thanks to two wins this weekend in Laurinburg, North Carolina, Ave Maria clinched the first beach volleyball championship in school history, as the 9-0 Gyrenes are now guaranteed to finish alone in first place. The regular season title in beach volleyball is the first for Ave Maria in any sport since the football program won the Mid-South Conference Sun Division in 2018.

The first of Ave Maria's matches on the week came against host St. Andrews University, a 4-1 win for the Gyrenes. All four of Ave Maria's wins came in straight sets, with the lone point from the Knights, coming at the third flight, going to a third set. AMU's top two teams cruised to victories, as the duo of Alayna Metherd and Ines Lopes won 21-14, 21-11 at the top flight, while the team of Reina Thomas and Lily Grasso won by the same score at the second flight.

AMU's fourth and fifth flight teams took care of business as well, although both duos won by smaller margins than the top teams. The fourth flight pair of Ryan Getz and Deanna Barrett picked up a win by a score of 21-18, 21-14, while Abbey Grose and Beatriz Rissi were victorious at the fifth flight by a score of 21-15, 21-18, the closest of the four Gyrene wins.

With the regular season championship hanging in the balance on Saturday, the Gyrenes left no doubt, sweeping the Bears of Truett McConnell University to clinch the conference title. Lopes and Metherd provided the clinching point with a dramatic win, defeating TMU's top team by a score of 21-17, 24-22, 15-10.

Elsewhere, the other four Gyrene wins were decisive. All four victories came in straight sets, led by a blowout win by the third flight team of Hannah Jones and Anna Howard, who won 21-7, 21-10. The lone pair to change from Friday came at the fifth flight, where Rissi teamed with Caroline Myers to win 21-18, 22-20.

Ave Maria will play two more matches on Wednesday before heading to The Sun Conference Tournament later this month as the top seed. The Gyrenes will head north to St. Petersburg, playing the conference finale against Southeastern before a non-conference tilt with NCAA Division II Eckerd College.