The Ave Maria University volleyball team bounced back from a conference loss Wednesday night with an emphatic home win on Thursday, sweeping the Conquistadors of Florida National University at Donahue Gym. AMU's win over Florida National was their eleventh consecutive in the series, and moved Ave Maria's home winning streak to 17 matches, a streak that will hit two calendar years on Friday.
AMU asserted their dominance early on, as the Gyrenes never trailed in the first set. Ave Maria jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the initial frame, and after initially closing the gap to 7-5, Florida National never got closer than three points down the stretch. The exclamation point of the first set was provided by Hannah Jones, as her service led the Gyrenes to seven straight points to close the set with a 25-12 win, a stretch that included a pair of aces for the junior.
The second set seemed to be closer early on, as the teams traded leads and Florida National claimed an edge at 6-5. However, the Gyrenes again had a response, this time going on an 8-1 run to put some distance between themselves and the Conquistadors. After the run, FNU was never closer than three points to the Gyrenes, who capitalized on three attack errors to score six of the final seven points to finish off a 25-15 win.
Again in the third set, the Gyrenes never trailed en route to putting the Conquistadors away. Ave Maria had their most efficient set on the attack, putting down 13 kills on just 22 swings, good for a .455 attack percentage. After holding a lead of just 7-6, Ave Maria outscored Florida National by a 18-6 margin for the remainder of the set, defeating the visitors by the same score that started the match, 25-12.
Six Gyrenes had at least five kills in the win, led by ten from senior Cabriella Bouterse. As a team, the Gyrenes were efficient at the net, posting a .338 team attack percentage. Katie Grose, who had five kills on six swings, led the offense with 28 assists, while Miah Pena and Victoria Schein both logged nine digs. Abigail Costlow led AMU at the net with five total blocks, while freshman Abigail Gregory added four of her own.
Ave Maria remains in control of their own destiny for the Sun Conference championship, but remain eight victories away from winning the first regular season crown in school history. The first of those eight matches comes Saturday, when the Gyrenes welcome the Webber Warriors to Donahue Gym. AMU defeated Webber in four sets in the first meeting between the schools on September 17 in Babson Park. Opening serve from Ave Maria is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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