GULF SHORES, Ala.- The Ave Maria University beach volleyball team kept their season alive for another day, claiming a consolation bracket victory in the 2025 Sun Conference Beach Volleyball Tournament. The seventh-seeded Gyrenes fell in their opening match to second-seeded Webber, 3-0, but rallied in the final match of the afternoon for a 3-2 win over New College of Florida. The win, avenging a regular season loss, sent to the Gyrenes to another elimination match Saturday morning. 

The Gyrenes could not get anything going against second-seeded Webber, a mainstay in the NAIA Tournament since the inception of the event. The Warriors claimed straight set victories in the second, third, and fourth flights, clinching the match with a 3-0 score. The Warriors also led in the two unfinished matches, with the closest being at the fifth flight, where AMU's duo of Abbey Grose and DeAnna Barrett were tied at 22 in the second set at the time of clinch.

In the elimination match against New College, the Gyrenes put together a furious rally, winning each of the final three matches to claim a 3-2 win. The matches at the second and fourth flights were the first to finish, with the Mighty Banyans winning both. The AMU comeback started at the fifth flight, where Grose and Barrett put together a dominant victory, winning 21-15, 21-9 over the fifth pair from New College.

The matches at the first and third flights both went to a third set, with Ave Maria needing to win both to keep their season alive. At the top flight, the team of Ines Lopes and Adriana Bravo rallied from a 21-18 loss in the first set, winning 21-11 in the second before a 15-10 win in the third. 

The match came down to the action in the third set, as AMU's Beatriz Rissi and Kate Lyons played a dead-even match. The duo won 21-19 in the first set, then lost 22-20 in the second. With the season on the line, the duo pulled out a dramatic 17-15 win in the third, extending the AMU season by at least one more day.

Ave Maria will battle third-seeded Loyola University in an elimination match at 9:00 a.m. local time Saturday morning. Should the Gyrenes win, they would advance to the semifinal round at 11:00 a.m., taking on top-seeded Mobile, the regular season champions. Another win would send the Gyrenes to the conference tournament championship for the third consecutive season, where they would play either Webber, William Carey, or Truett McConnell.