MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (September 15, 2021) – The St. Thomas University (STU) Women's Volleyball team (7-4, 1-0 SUN) defeated the Ave Maria University Gyrenes (8-5, 0-1 SUN) to open Sun Conference play on Wednesday night from the Fernandez Family Center Gym. This game was named the SUN Volleyball Match of the Week by the conference office.
 
Bobcat Starters
Tyran Chenault
Sana Dennis
Arianna Bolinger
Kyleigh Beecham
Mya Thomas
Loreto Nuñez-Casal
Bianca Grassi – libero
 
Match Notes

• St. Thomas extended their win streak to four in a row.
• The Bobcats broke the Gyrenes four game win streak.
• Bianca Grassi was named the SUN Defender of the Week on Monday afternoon.
• Arianna Bolinger set the tone of the match early with a big kill to give STU the first point of set one.
• The set went back and forth, with the largest lead being three points.
• STU trailed 17-15 and scored six straight points to regain the lead and make it 21-17.
• Ave Maria would work their way back into it, bringing the set within one at 22-21 but fell short as St. Thomas took set one, 25-22.
• STU only had three attack errors on 40 attempts, hitting .375 for the set.
• Set two begin with the Bobcats scoring first once again on a Mya Thomas kill
• The battle continued in the second set as the lead was no larger than five. St. Thomas had control on the scoreboard through the first 26-points.
• STU scored three straight points to close out set two and take aa 2-0 lead in the match.
• Ave Maria hit a match low .111 in the second set committing eight attack errors on 36 attempts.
• The Gyrenes opened the third set on a 7-2 run, gaining the largest lead in the match.
• St. Thomas slowly worked their way back into the set going on short runs of three to four to stay in it.
• At 18-13, in favor of the Gyrenes, the Bobcats went on a 8-1 run to take the lead for the first time in the set at 21-19.
• A pair of Beecham service aces, Bobcat kills, and Gyrene attack errors fueled the comeback.
• Back-to-back kills from Chenault and Mya Thomas closed out the third set and finished the clean sweep of Ave Maria.
• A trio of Bobcats led the offense with Chenault hitting a team-high .381 with 11-kills, Bolinger led the way with 13-kills, and Amanda Allende hit .375 with 11-kills.
• St. Thomas hit .280 as a team while holding Ave Maria well below their average at .173.

Up Next
St. Thomas will continue conference play and head up to Lake Wales, Fla. to take on Warner University on Saturday, September 18 at 2 p.m. catch the action on The Sun Digital Network.