LAKELAND, Fla. — The Ave Maria Volleyball team dropped their first conference game Saturday afternoon, falling to the Southeastern Fire in three sets. The Gyrenes had a tough time putting runs together against the Fire.
The longest run in the match for the Gyrenes came in the first set, scoring five unanswered points. However, the Fire had already gotten to set point by then and ended the run by taking the set 25-13.
The second frame ended 25-13 as well. Ave Maria put together back-to-back three-point runs, separated by a point from the Fire, but still found themselves down seven at the end. The Fire won eight the final 11 points to take the frame.
The Gyrenes scored their most points in the final frame with 15, but it was not enough to extend the match as Southeastern took the final frame. The Gyrenes did not have any runs of three or more points in the set.
Ave Maria did not have a bad day on the attacking side Saturday but rather faced a Southeastern offense that had a really good attacking day. As a team, the Gyrenes committed just 14 attacking errors, the fewest they have logged this season. On the other side of the net, Southeastern logged just 11 errors to 43 kills, posting a hitting percentage of .302. It is the second highest hitting percentage the Gyrenes have faced this season.
Individually, Elle Malczewski and Greta Heiney tied for the team lead with six kills. Caroline Myers was the leading setter with 18 assists. Myers also had the only ace of the match for the Gyrenes. Defensively, Maylis DeTar led the team with 11 digs.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 3-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Gyrenes also enter into a four-way tie for second place in the standings, matching records with Southeastern, New College and the winner of the Keiser/Webber match.
Ave Maria will get a week off before finally coming back to the Tom Golisano Field House for their second home match of the season. The Gyrenes will play host to the Warner Royals, who lost to St. Thomas Saturday keeping them winless in conference play. The match is part of a triple header on the Ave Maria campus with Women's Soccer and Football also home that weekend. Opening serve is set for 2 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on the Urban Edge Network.
