WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Ave Maria Volleyball team is going dancing for the seventh year in a row. The Gyrenes punched their ticket to the Sun Conference Tournament Wednesday night, taking down the Keiser Seahawks 3-1.
All four sets were close, but for just the eighth time this season, Ave Maria committed less attack errors than their opponent and used that to their advantage.
The first set started off even between the two teams, but the Gyrenes took a commanding lead after their first big run of the match. Trailing 8-7, Ave Maria won the next seven points to take a six-point lead. The first five points were all off Keiser errors while the last two were scored by an Emily Child kill and a Maylis DeTar ace.
The Seahawks retook the lead after a big run of their own, but the Gyrenes winning five of the last seven points to win the set 25-23. The clinching point was scored with a Megan Klockner ace, her first ace since September 10 against Florida Memorial.
The second set had the largest margin of the four with Ave Maria winning 25-19. Again, it was another big run that put the Gyrenes in front after trailing in the early stages of the frame. This time, AMU went on a 9-1 run to go from trailing by two to leading by six. The run was a combination of five attack errors from Keiser, two kills from Elle Malczewski and two aces from Maria Texiera.
The Gyrenes held onto this lead for the remainder of the set and won the last four points to secure their second win in the match. Mara Delyon got the set-clinching kill.
Backed into a corner, the Seahawks fought back and won the third frame 25-22. Keiser tightened up offensively in the third frame after posting a negative hitting percentage in each of the first two sets. The Gyrenes only had a couple three-point runs in the third set which wasn't enough to secure the sweep.
Ave Maria took care of business in the fourth set, winning 25-20. It was very tight between the two teams, going back-and-forth with the lead. Knotted up at 18, the Gyrenes surged and won five points in a row, bringing them to 23. Three of those five points were off Gyrene kills with two from Greta Heiney and one from Lillian Dauses. The Seahawks stopped the bleeding for just a moment, but a service error and a kill from Dauses clinched the set and the match for the Gyrenes.
It is the first time since 2013 that the Gyrenes have swept the Seahawks in the regular season, having beaten them at Tom Golisano on September 24.
Malczewski led the team in kills with 11, hitting double digits for the second time this season. Klockner was the leading setter with 19 assists. Texiera was right behind her with 12. Both players recorded a double-double with 11 and 13 digs, respectively.
Behind the line, the Gyrenes recorded nine aces, the most since their 12-ace performance against Florida Memorial on October 15. Texiera led behind the line with three.
Defensively, Delyon led the team with 20 digs. At the net, Malczewski, Beatriz Rissi and Dauses all had five blocks.
With the win, Ave Maria improves to 8-13 overall and 6-6 in conference play. The Gyrenes also punched their ticket to the Sun Conference Tournament, as they are three games ahead of seventh-place Webber with just two matches left to play in the regular season.
Both of those matches will be at home for the Gyrenes as they wrap up the regular season at the Tom Golisano Field House. The first of those two is Wednesday, November 5, as the Gyrenes play host to the St. Thomas Bobcats. They look to avenge their loss to the Bobcats back on October 1 in Maimi Gardens. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
