AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Volleyball dropped their final home game of the regular season, losing in three straight sets to the Keiser Seahawks. The Gyrenes outperformed Keiser in a few key statistics but had trouble turning those stats into points on the scoreboard.
Keiser dominated the early stages of the first set, winning 21 of the first 31 points. Ave Maria did not have a response for the early attack of the Seahawks.
After an Ave Maria timeout, the Gyrenes put together a run themselves, winning seven straight points to get within four of the Seahawks. Four of the seven points came off kills from the Gyrenes and the other three were from Keiser attack errors.
However, that was the closest AMU would get as Keiser closed out the set 25-19.
The second set was all Keiser as well. The Seahawks built up multiple six-point leads throughout the frame and never let the Gyrenes stack up more than two points in a row. Keiser won the final three points to take the set 25-17.
Ave Maria logged one more kill than the Seahawks in the second set, recording 10 to Keiser's nine. What hurt the Gyrenes in the second set was 10 attack errors to Keiser's three.
The third set was the closest by far in the whole match. Ave Maria scored the first point of the set and led for a good bit in the early stages of the frame. It was the first time Ave Maria had the lead all match. Keiser took over around the middle points but could only get out to a four-point lead.
Later in the set, the Seahawks extended their lead to five points at 23-18 and were two points away from clinching the match. Ave Maria held off Keiser for a little bit, winning five of the next six points to make it 24-23.
The Gyrenes needed just one more point to at least force extra points in the frame, but a Keiser block ended the match.
Ave Maria logged more kills, assists and digs than Keiser, but could not turn those stats into a win. Keiser had nine more aces than the Gyrenes and three more blocks.
Individually, Elle Malczewski and Emily Child tied for the team lead in kills with eight. Caroline Myers was the leading setter with 16 assists, followed by Megan Klockner with 12. Behind the service line, Myers and Mara Delyon each logged an ace.
Defensively, Ryan Getz led the team with 19 digs, followed by Maylis DeTar with 18 and Myers with 11. It is the third double-double of the season for Myers between assists and digs. At the net, Lucy Hudson led the team with three blocks.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 9-10 overall and 4-8 in conference play. Due to a surprising upset in Lake Wales, the Gyrenes have not yet secured their spot in the Sun Conference tournament as Warner took down No. 23 New College of Florida. The Royals are now a game back of Ave Maria for the last spot in the tournament with two games left to play in the regular season. The Gyrenes just need one more win or one more Warner loss to secure the spot as they won the season series against the Royals.
Those final two matches are both on the road for the Gyrenes. First, Ave Maria takes a trip to Miami Gardens to take on the St. Thomas Bobcats on Wednesday, November 4. The Bobcats were ranked 10
th in the latest NAIA Top 25 polls. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
