AVE MARIA, Fla. — Saturday's match between the Ave Maria Volleyball team and the Webber Warriors was one of the closest matches of the season. Unfortunately for the Gyrenes, all the deciding bumps fell the other way as Ave Maria lost to Webber 25-20, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21.
In a rare occurrence in the 2026 season, the Gyrenes dropped the first set of the match 25-20. The two teams were with each other for most of the frame, but with Ave Maria clinging to a one-point lead, Webber won eight of the last 10 points to win the match 25-20. It is just the third time this season in 12 matches that Ave Maria has dropped the opening frame of a match. The first two matches ended in 3-0 sweeps of the Gyrenes, but not Saturday.
Ave Maria fought back and took the second set 25-23. The Gyrenes most influential run of the set was when they outscored Webber 7-2 to go from down one to up by three. Webber fought their way back and to tie the match at 23, but back-to-back kills from Emily Child and Elle Malczewski secured the frame for the Gyrenes and tied the match up at 1 set apiece.
The third set was one of the wildest frames of the season, making the loss that much tougher as the Warriors took it 27-25. The beginning of the set was all Webber, racing out to a 10-point lead at 18-8. Ave Maria fought back a little bit, but the Warriors reached set point with an eight-point lead at 24-16. With their backs against the wall, the Gyrenes rattled off an extended run and fought off eight set-points.
The run stared with a kill from Greta Heiney, which got the ball into the hand of Caroline Myers behind the service line. Back-to-back attack errors from the Warriors kept the set alive and forced a timeout from the Warriors. Out of the timeout, the Gyrenes got two more kills from Heiney and two more attack errors from the Warriors to make the score 24-23 and force Webber to burn their second timeout of the match. An ace from Myers, her first and only of the afternoon, tied the set at 24 and forced free volleyball in the third set.
The run ended at eight-points as an attack error from the Gyrenes put the Warriors back in the driver's seat. Ave Maria then fended off their ninth set point of the frame with a block from Child and Lilian Dauses to tie the set back up at 25.
Unfortunately, the magic ran out in the third set as Webber got a kill to go back on the attack, and then a procedural error gave the winning point to the Warriors.
Following the tough loss in the third set, the Gyrenes had trouble getting back into the match in the fourth. Ave Maria took an early lead, but the Warriors put together strong runs in the middle of the frame, jumping out to a multiple five-point advantages. Ave Maria worked their way back to within two of the Warriors and fended off one match point, but an attack error ended the match as the Gyrenes fell 3-1.
Three Gyrenes hit double-digit kills Saturday, matching a season high. Malczewski led the team with 12 kills, followed Heiney and Child, each with 10. Myers was the leading setter with 19 assists but was closely followed by Maria Teixeira at 14. Behind the service line, the Gyrenes logged four aces, led by Ryan Getz with two.
Defensively, Maylis DeTar led the team with 21 digs. Two more Gyrenes hit double figures and Mara Delyon logged 11 and Getz recorded 10. At the net, four Gyrenes each recorded three blocks, all assisting with each other.
With the loss, Ave Maria falls to 6-6 overall and 2-5 in conference play. Saturday was the final match of Ave Maria's first go around in the Sun Conference. The Gyrenes will now play all eight conference members again, flipping the locations from the first time through.
AMU is back in action Saturday, October 10, as they play host to the New College of Florida Mighty Banyans. New College won the first meeting between the two squads in the Sun Opener in Bradenton. Now the Gyrenes get a chance to host the Mighty Banyans and will look to return the favor. Opening serve is set for 2 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
