AVE MARIA, Fla. – The University of Fort Lauderdale baseball team grabs the first win in school history on opening day. The Eagles defeated Ave Maria in come-back fashion with four runs in the top of the ninth inning to win 7-6 at Bowie’s Ballpark.

UFTL’s Chase Davis drove a two-run single in the ninth inning to seal himself in the UFTL Baseball record books for life, leading the Maroon-and-Gold to the victory.

Malichi Woodside’s hit-by-pitch and Tad Stockowski’s walk forced home the other two ninth inning runs for the Eagles.

Jacob Laroque pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save as an Eagle. Laroque, sit the Gyrenes down in order, recording two flyouts and a ground out. Caleb Rodriguez collected the first win in school history, throwing an inning. Rodriguez allowed a leadoff run before retiring AMU to close out the eighth.

AMU would get on the board first, scoring four runs on a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning.

UFTL would get their first two runs in the sixth inning when Woodside doubled in Justin Martinez, and then he would come around to score on a wild pitch.

In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Ave Maria would get a run back on a solo homerun to stretch their lead to 5-2.

The Maroon-and-Gold were able to push a run across the plate in the eighth inning on a Yabdiel Hernandez infield single to third that scored Aderlyn Cubilete, to trim the score to 5-3.

The Gyrenes would answer back again in the bottom half of the inning on the third Ethan Bergkamp homerun of the game. Bergkamp would be responsible for all six AMU runs on three homeruns.

Davis posted 2-for-4 day with two RBIs and a hit-by-pitch, while Woodside was 1-for-4, scored two runs, drove in two runs and was hit by a pitch.

Erik Scott went 1-for-4 with a run scored, Stockowski was 1-for-4 with an RBI and a walk and Drew Powell was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.

Hernandez and Christian Tavarez both collected a pinch-hit knock for the Maroon-and-Gold.

Jake Cace, Justin Frias and Lazaro Salazar stole a base on the day.

The Eagles will travel back to Ave Maria to close out the three-game series tomorrow, with the first game starting at 11 am at Bowie’s Ballpark.

The post UFTL wins inaugural baseball game with four-run ninth appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

AVE MARIA, Fla. –  In a back and forth contest, the No. 2 ranked Southeastern University women’s basketball team grabbed their 20^th win of the season with a 55-51 victory over Sun Conference opponent, Ave Maria University to advance to 20-1 and 9-0 in SUN play.
 
the Fire got on the board first with Angela Perry’s first points of the contest but seven consecutive points by the Gyrenes gave them a 7-2 advantage four minutes into the first quarter. After four more lead changes through the remainder of the quarter, the Gyrenes had the 17-16 advantage going into the second quarter after the Fire struggled from distance going 1-6 from beyond the arc.
 
Four consecutive points by Marta Aranda tilted the scales back in favor of the Fire as they took the 20-17 edge early in the second quarter. The Gyrenes continued their strong showing from three point range with back-to-back baskets to tie things up at 25 with just under five minutes to play before the half. The teams continued to battle with neither being able to grab the advantage heading into the locker room as they concluded the first 20 minutes with a 29-29 tie.
 
The Fire began to pull away from the Gyrenes in the third quarter after putting together an 8-0 run with Leilah Vigil contributing to five of those eight points. The late quarter run allowed the Fire a 45-38 lead heading into the final quarter after shooting 50% from the field and from beyond the arc. The fourth quarter saw the Fire lead by as much as nine but multiple missed opportunities by the Gyrenes with the clock winding down lent the Fire the 55-51 victory.
 
Leilah Vigil led the Fire in points and rebounds and recorded her first double-double of the season after recording 14 points and 11 rebounds. Angela Perry ended the night with 12 points while Rebecca Cook ended a strong defensive showing with eight rebounds, three steals, and four blocks.

The post Vigil’s double-double lifts Fire over Gyrenes for 20th win appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

BABSON PARK, Fla. – In what turned out to be the Warriors’ final Spring Game and about two months after what they thought was their final Spring Game, the Webber International University men’s soccer team playing one more time during its 2020-21 season and defeated Ave Maria University 2-1 on the Warrior Grass Field.

The win for Webber (8-9 overall) was its second in three tries this season against Ave Maria (3-13-2).

The Warriors scored just over six minutes in on a goal by David Negrin Ruiz assisted by Rodrigo Flores Iraheta, and then led 2-0 at halftime after Jay Skelcher-Maxwell scored off the assist from Daniel Gamanov in the 31st minute.

Negrin Ruiz led Webber with four shots while Flores Iraheta, Prince James and Dashaun Morris all added three.

Webber outshot Ave Maria 11-3 in the first half and held the Gyrenes to without a shot on goal until the 50th minute. In the end, Alex Marciulonis finished with three saves while defender Eric Lohghorn and the rest of the Warriors’ back four did a great job of controlling the game.

“The boys played well today, and it was a great way to end the season,” spoke Head Coach Neil Cockburn. “Even though we dominated the game, we need to finish out chances when we can so we don’t need to struggle at the end.”

The post Webber men’s soccer team ends 2020-2021 season – again appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Southeastern couldn’t have gotten off to much better of a start to their Tuesday night game against Ave Maria.

The Fire made seven of their first 10 shots, led 20-0 with 2:00 left in the first quarter en route to a 106-38 victory over Ave Maria to remain unbeaten in Sun Conference play and pick up their 14^th-straight win.

After 10 minutes of play, the Fire held a 26-4 advantage after forcing 14 turnovers and holding the Gyrenes to just 1-of-6 from the field. Junior guard Bekki Kalaydjiev was the key catalyst in the first half, scoring 12 of her 14 points on the night, and had five steals and three assists. Kalaydjiev added three more assists in the second half.

The second half started similarly as the Fire scored the first 14 points of the third quarter to go up 60-13 with 6:51 left. Haley Howarth had 11 of her 16 points during the second half, finishing 4-for-8 from 3-point range and added four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Gabrielle Ozoude had a game-high 17 points in her first start of the season, and added eight rebounds, and three blocks. Carmen Handy added 15 points and Madi Hecox chipped in 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds.

For the game, SEU forced 29 turnovers with 16 steals, and held AMU to 23% from the field on 11 made field goals.

The Fire return to action on Thursday when they host Warner at 5:30 p.m. 

The post Fast start fuels fire to 14th straight win appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria University men’s basketball team extended their winning streak to five games on Wednesday night, cruising to a 99-81 victory over the Florida National University Conquistadors at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium in AMU’s final game of the 2020 calendar year. The Gyrenes, powered by a 58-point outburst in the first half, ended a six-game losing streak to FNU, which dated back to the 2013-14 season.

The first half was the Eric Klekas show, as the senior exploded for 27 points. The Elko, Nevada native made ten of his 15 field goal attempts, including six of eight three-point tries. During the first half, Ave Maria used an 18-0 run to extend an 18-10 lead to 36-10, essentially taking control of the game for good. The lead would continue to grow from there, as the Gyrenes took a 58-28 advantage into the halftime break.

Led by Klekas’ effort, the Gyrenes shot 56.4 percent from the field in the first half, including a 50 percent mark (7-for-14) from beyond the three-point arc. AMU was also dominant on the glass, grabbing eleven offensive rebounds and holding a 29-14 advantage in rebounds over the first 20 minutes. On the other side of the floor, nearly half of FNU’s points were scored by Jeffrey Hernandez, who scored 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Florida National outscored Ave Maria 53-41 in the second half, but were never able to threaten the Gyrenes down the stretch – in fact, the closest margin in the second half was the final margin of 18 points. The Conquistadors made nine three-pointers in the second half, and both teams shot better than 40 percent from the field – 48.8 percent for FNU and 44.4 percent for AMU. 

For the game, Ave Maria made 50.7 percent of their shots, including ten three-pointers. The Gyrenes also held a 52-34 advantage in the rebounding category, and grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. Florida National actually made more three-pointers than the Gyrenes, 13-10, but the Gyrenes more than made up for it with a 54-32 advantage in points in the paint.

Klekas was the game’s leading scorer, putting in 29 points and narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine assists. Fernando Salsamendi added yet another double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds, a total that tied for second in AMU single game history. Four other Gyrenes were in double figures in the victory – Chayse Culpepper (12), Matt Gillis (11), Joseph Hahnenberg (10), and Chosen Levarity (10). Hernandez was FNU’s top scorer with 22 points on 20 shots.

Ave Maria is done for the 2020 calendar year, and will enter 2021 with a 9-4 record. The Gyrenes’ next game is scheduled for January 2, 2021, on the road against the St. Thomas University Bobcats. AMU’s return to Sun Conference play comes in Miami Gardens, and marks the start of a stretch of four conference games in eight days. Tipoff between the Gyrenes and Bobcats is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on the first Saturday of the new year.

The post Klekas leads AMU as winning streak extends to five appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

The Keiser Seahawks are 19-0 and at the top of the list. Park, Grand View, IU Kokomo and IU East round out the top five.

Teams listed have played a minimum of 10 matches so far this season.

The post Keiser atop Top 25 volleyball ranking at midpoint of 2020-2021 appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

2020  Sun Conference Volleyball All-Conference
 
First Team 
Cabriella Bouterse, JR, OH                 Ave Maria  
Madelyn Haut, SO, MB                       Ave Maria 
Victoria Schein, SO, L/DS                    Ave Maria 
Lily Witkoski, SO, S                             Ave Maria 
Giovana Larregui Lopez, JR, OH          Coastal Georgia 
Cassie Cox, JR, OH                              Keiser      
Amber Dilsaver, JR, MB                      Keiser 
Jordan Odom, SR, OH/DS                    Keiser 
Abbe Seward, SR, OH                         Keiser 
Emily Boehlein, SR, RS/MB                 Southeastern 
Kyleigh Beecham, SO, S                      St. Thomas 
Arianna Bolinger, JR, OH                    St. Thomas 
Tyran Chenault, SR, MB                      St. Thomas 
Victoria Fernandez, FR, L                    St. Thomas 

Second Team
Erica Chenard, SR, MB                        Ave Maria 
Gardieliz Laureano-Anujar, SR, S         Coastal Georgia 
Alison Muldrow, SR, MB                     Coastal Georgia 
Talia Myers, JR, MB                            Keiser 
Brooklyn VandeHei, JR, S                   Keiser 
Aurora Alderman, SR, DS/L                 Warner 
TarriAnne Henry, FR, S/RS                  Warner 
Svenja Koenig, GS, MB                       Webber International

The post 2020 All-Sun Conference volleyball teams announced appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

AVE MARIA, Fla. – The Ave Maria University volleyball team earned their first ever postseason win on Friday evening, sweeping the Southeastern University Fire in the quarterfinals of The Sun Conference Tournament at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy gymnasium. The Gyrenes avenged a loss to SEU in the quarterfinals of last season’s conference tournament, and advanced for the first time ever into the semifinals.

Ave Maria started fast in the opening set, jumping out to a 6-1 thanks to six unanswered points after the Fire scored the first point of the match. Southeastern never again got closer than three points as AMU cruised to the first set victory. On Ave Maria’s second set point opportunity, reigning Sun Conference Setter of the Week Katie Grose logged a kill to finish off a 25-17 triumph for the Gyrenes.

Southeastern made it interesting in the second set, and were tied with the Gyrenes as late as 15-15. AMU responded with four straight points to open up a 19-15 lead, but SEU hung around to get back within one at 23-22. On SEU’s serve, the Gyrenes set up set point on a Zelie Kessler kill, then took a 2-0 lead in the match on an ace from Miah Pena. 

The Gyrenes used a 13-4 run to pull away from the Fire in the third set, putting the finishing touches on the most important victory in program history to date. The run included three consecutive blocks from Cabriella Bouterse and Erica Chenard. The Fire never got closer than seven points after the Gyrene run, and AMU finished off the victory with four of the match’s final five points. The final point of the night was accounted for by Madelyn Haut, who logged a kill on AMU’s second match point.

AMU logged a .286 hitting percentage during the match, and had the better attack percentage in each of the three sets. The Gyrenes dominated at the net, blocking eight Southeastern attacks while allowing just one block to the Fire. Ave Maria’s block held Southeastern to a .109 hitting percentage, which included a -.059 mark in the final set.

Bouterse led the Gyrene attack with 16 kills on 20 swings, good for an .800 attack percentage. Zelie Kessler also added eleven kills, which also came without an error. Grose had 35 assists from the setter position, while Victoria Schein led AMU with thirteen digs and Hannah Jones chipped in with 12. At the net, Chenard had five block assists, Bouterse had four, and both Kessler and Haut had three.

Following the victory, the Gyrenes await the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between Coastal Georgia and Warner. The winner of that match will come to Ave Maria on Monday evening for the semifinals of The Sun Conference Tournament. One of AMU, Coastal Georgia, and Warner will then advance to Wednesday night’s conference championship game, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed.

The post Ave Maria earns first-ever postseason volleyball win appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

AVE MARIA, Fla. – The first Sun Conference game of the 2020-21 season for the Webber International University women’s basketball team finished with a 63-51 win on the road for the Warriors at Ave Maria University.

In what was the 2020-21 Sun Conference opener for both teams, and was also the first road game of the year for Webber, which improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the TSC so far during the young season while Ave Maria fell to 1-3 and 0-1.

After a very sloppy and low-scoring first half in which the teams combined for 31 turnovers, 17 of which were by the Warriors, the two teams found themselves tied at 25-25.
Webber was only 1-for-8 from three in the first half while Ave Maria shot 50 percent (3-6) from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

But then in the third quarter, Webber hit six 3-pointers, the first three of which came from Dasia Wandick, and then in the final two and a half minutes of the period, the final three each came in a row from Paris Copeland to break a 37-37 tie and singlehandedly give the Warriors a nine-point lead up 46-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, Copeland and Wandick both added another 3-pointer to help the Warriors secure the hard-fought win.

In the end, Wandick finished with a game-high 20 points on very effective 8-for-11 shooting overall and a 4-for-5 mark from 3-point range. Copeland was right behind her with 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three.

Amaya Small reached double-digit rebounds with 11 and had nine points to finish just shy of a double-double; LeAndra Franklin had six points, seven assists and seven steals; and Thalia Jackson and Rushell Jacob both added seven boards.

Next up, Webber will battle the Falcons of Florida College for the second time in 10 days, this time coming at 6 p.m. on Monday, November 16, in Temple Terrace, Florida. The Warriors defeated Florida College 86-69 in the first meeting this year between the two teams on November 6 inside the Sabbagh Athletic Center.

The post Webber outlasts Ave Maria in low-scoring affair to win conference opener appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The Ave Maria University volleyball team earned their first-ever win at Coastal Georgia on Saturday afternoon, knocking off the Mariners in straight sets, 25-9, 25-22, 26-24. The Gyrenes had been swept in each of their previous four meetings at the Coffin Gymnasium, dating back to the 2016 season. With the win, the Gyrenes claimed sole possession of second place in The Sun Conference with just over two weeks to play in the regular season.

Saturday’s first set was the Cabriella Bouterse show. The native of Suriname was completely unstoppable, logging ten kills on eleven swings. The junior was responsible for ten of AMU’s 12 kills in the opening frame, and led an Ave Maria attack that did not have an attack error and posted a .545 hitting percentage. AMU used a 9-0 run during the set to take a 20-7 lead, and never looked back en route to a 25-9 romp.

Early in the second set, it looked to be more of the same for the Gyrenes. Ave Maria raced out to an 8-2 lead, which included two aces from Victoria Schein and two blocks – both of which involved Bouterse and Erica Chenard. Ave Maria led by as many as nine at 14-5, but the Mariners were able to rally. Coastal Georgia got as close as one point, and trailed by just two at 24-22. However, a kill from Madelyn Haut put the second set away, and gave the Gyrenes the chance to sweep the Mariners on their home floor. 

Coastal Georgia grabbed an early lead in the third set, leading by as many as three points (8-5) and as late as a 22-21. Trailing 22-21, the Gyrenes scored three of the next four points, including another Bouterse kill to set up their first match point. After Coastal Georgia fought off match point to tie the set at 24, a CCGA attack error followed by a block from Chenard and Bouterse finished the match, giving Ave Maria their tenth win of the season.

Ave Maria’s front line was once again critical in the victory, as the Gyrenes logged eight blocks as a team. This advantage at the net allowed AMU to force 29 attack errors from the Mariners, while committing just nine of their own. The Gyrenes also claimed a .280 to .017 advantage in the hitting percentage category.  

Bouterse led the Gyrenes with 16 kills in the victory, and logged a .640 attack percentage. The junior also posted six total blocks, a team high. Lily Witkoski added 30 assists, while the defensive effort was led by 13 digs from Alejandra Suarez and eleven from Miah Pena. On the block, Chenard had five block assists for the Gyrenes.

AMU’s next match comes at home on Wednesday against the only team other than Keiser to give the Gyrenes a loss – the St. Thomas University Bobcats. With a win, the Gyrenes will take full control of the race for second place in The Sun Conference. Opening serve in Ave Maria is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

The post AMU wins at Coastal, takes over second place in TSC standings appeared first on Southeast Sports Net.