Photo by Olivia English
MESA, Ariz. — The Ave Maria Beach Volleyball season came to an end Friday afternoon at the NAIA National Invitational in Arizona. The Gyrenes lost their final match of pool play at the start of the day and were then eliminated by the Corban Warriors in the quarterfinals.
Friday started out with the final match of pool play. Ave Maria took on the Wayland Baptist Pioneers in the first match in which they were the higher seed. Unfortunately, Wayland Baptist got the upset as they beat Ave Maria 3-2.
The Gyrenes scored the first point of the match with a win in the fifth flight from Abbey Grose and Maylis DeTar. The pair fell in their first set 21-13 but came back and won a nail biter in the second set 21-19. In the final tiebreaking set, Grose and DeTar went back-and-forth with the Pioneer counterparts, but ultimately got the 15-13 win to put the Gyrenes up 1-0.
Wayland Baptist evened up the match 1-1 with a win in the second position in two sets.
Moments later, the Gyrenes retook the lead with a win in the fourth spot. In a bit of a change up from the regular season, Ave Maria paired Beatriz Rissi with Ava Winkler in the fourth spot, and the two got the win in the three sets. Rissi and Winkler won the first set 21-18 but dropped the second set 21-14. Unlike Ave Maria's third set win in the fifth spot, Rissi and Winkler dominated the final frame and won 15-9 to put the Gyrenes back in front in the match.
However, Wayland Baptist did not go away and got a win in third position in two sets to tie the match at two.
It all came down to the two team's top pairs, and that flight also needed three set to determine a winner. Adriana Bravo and Mara Delyon dropped the first set 21-12. Facing a loss in the second set, the two came back and won the middle frame in extra points, 24-22. With all eyes upon them in the third set, Bravo and Delyon played hard but fell 15-9, giving Wayland Baptist the win.
The loss made the Gyrenes 0-3 in pool play and matched them up with the top team out of the other pool of four teams in the quarterfinals.
In the first elimination match of the invitational, Ave Maria fell to the Corban Warriors 3-0 in a truncated match.
The Warriors won the second, fourth and third positions to clinch the match and caused the other two flights to end unfinished.
The fourth position needed a third set to decide a winner as Rissi and Winkler won the middle frame. The Warriors took the first set 21-14, but the Gyrenes battled back with a 21-18 win the second.
The third set went the distance, but Rissi and Winkler fell 15-13 as Corban secured the point.
In the other two flights that ended unfinished, Corban won both of the first sets and was leading in the second set when the match was called.
The Warriors move onto the semifinals where they will meet the Southern Oregon Raiders, whom the Gyrenes played against Thursday.
With the two losses, Ave Maria finishes the 2026 season with an overall record of 15-7. 2026 was the second ever trip to the National Invitational for the Gyrenes, following a trip in 2024. The Gyrenes went 0-4 that season as well and are still looking for their first win on a national stage.
Despite the losses, 2026 will go down as a success in program history as the Gyrenes won their first ever Sun Conference Championship and won their most matches in a single season.
When the Gyrenes return to the sand in 2027, they will look to build off the momentum from the 2026 season.
