Box Score AVE MARIA, Fla.—Southeastern had a hard time keeping up with Ave Maria in the second half of its Sun Conference match Wednesday night.
The Gyrenes registered 36 kills on 87 attempts in the third and fourth sets combined to come away with a 3-1 win over the Fire.
Ave Maria (16-7, 7-3 SUN) took the first 25-20, quickly getting out to an 8-2 advantage and cruising to the win. Southeastern (17-11, 5-5 SUN) won the second set by the count of 25-13, getting 18 kills in that set with seven of those coming from freshman
Sandy Cao.
The third set was tight through the first 20 rallies with momentum swinging the way of the hosts after winning a long rally to tie the match at 10 and build a 19-15 lead. The Gyrenes won four of the last five rallies to take the set 25-19.
In the fourth, the Fire struggled to keep pace with the hot-hitting Gyrenes, which built a 16-8 lead thanks to 11 kills on 24 attacks with just one error. AMU finished the set winning 25-16 with 20 kills on 40 swings and a .450 team attack percentage in the set.
Individually for SEU, Cao had a match-best 22 kills with a .375 attacking percentage and added 13 digs.
Kennedy Jones chipped in 12 kills.
On defense,
Holly Kaczmarek had 21 digs and
Grace Petty added 11.
Alexandra Postlethwaite had a match-best 48 assists and had nine digs.
The Fire return to play on Saturday at home at 2 p.m. against Florida Memorial. To purchase tickets,
click here.
