MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Ave Maria Volleyball team stole the second set from ranked St. Thomas Wednesday night but lost 3-1. However, the night was not ruined as a match four hours up the road punched Ave Maria's ticket to the Sun Conference Tournament for the eighth year in a row.
St. Thomas won the first set 25-16. An early 6-0 run for the Bobcats built up a deficit the Gyrenes could not overcome in the first frame. St. Thomas was also very accurate with their strikes, posting a .565 hitting percentage with 15 kills and just two errors. Ave Maria posted a solid hitting percentage of .280, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Bobcats.
In the second frame, the Gyrenes tied the match up at 1. In the longest set of the season, Ave Maria outlasted St. Thomas and won 29-27. The lead bounced back and forth multiple times, but it was Ave Maria who got to set point first, taking a 24-23 lead off an Elle Malczewski kill. St. Thomas won the next two points to record their first set point, but the Gyrenes fended it off with another kill from Malczewski. Greta Heiney then brought Ave Maria one-point away from winning with a kill of her own. However, St. Thomas continued the pattern and scored the next two points to tie the set and get within one-point of winning.
Ave Maria finally broke through and won the last three points to win the set. Heiney logged a kill to even the score back up. Maylis DeTar then recorded her lone ace of the game to give the Gyrenes set point. Ave Maria then put the frame away with another kill from Heiney.
Unfortunately, Ave Maria could not capitalize on the momentum of tying the match as they dropped the next two sets.
St. Thomas won the third set by a score of 25-16 again. Just like in the first set, the Bobcats won 10 of the first 13 points and cruised the rest of the way to a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth and final set was the most lopsided of the match as St. Thomas won 25-14. Ave Maria hung with St. Thomas for the first few points of the frame and even took a couple of leads. However, a 5-0 run late in the set increased St. Thomas' lead to 10 points and the Gyrenes ran out of time before they could come back.
Individually, the Gyrenes had three players hit double digits in kills, led by Malczewski with 12. Heiney and Mara Delyon also hit double figures, each with 10 kills.
Megan Klockner was the leading setter with 21 assists, followed by Caroline Myers with 13.
Behind the line, the Gyrenes logged just two aces from DeTar and Delyon.
Defensively, DeTar led the team with 20 digs and was the only Gyrene to hit double figures. At the net, Lucy Hudson led the team with four blocks.
The loss drops Ave Maria's record to 9-11 overall and 4-9 in conference play.
Despite the loss, Ave Maria punched their ticket to the Sun Conference Tournament thanks to a Warner loss in Lakeland at the hands of the Southeastern Fire. The best Warner can do is tie Ave Maria in the standings, but the Gyrenes own the tiebreaker having swept the season series.
Seeding is still up for grabs for the Gyrenes as the fifth spot is still available for them. Ave Maria is just a half game back of the Webber Warriors for fifth place, and the two will face off in the regular season finale.
The regular season concludes Saturday, November 7, for the Gyrenes with a trip up to Babson Park to take on the Warriors. Webber won the first meeting between the two squads on October 3 but will be coming off the first of a back-to-back as Webber makes up an earlier game against Florida Memorial the night before. With fifth place on the line, it will be settled on the court between the Warriors and Gyrenes. Opening serve is set for 2 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.
