The Stetson volleyball team (7-12, 2-4 Atlantic Sun) battled visiting East Tennessee State into the fifth game at the Edmunds Center tonight but came up on the short end of this Atlantic Sun conference matchup, suffering its fourth consecutive loss in the process.  Game scores were 30-26, 24-30, 30-24, 28-30 and 15-12.  The Lady Bucs improved to 14-9 overall and 5-1 in the conference.

A pair of outside hitters recorded double-doubles for the Hatters in the loss.  Junior Rebecca Orzechowicz (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep HS) had a team-high 15 kills and 16 digs while senior Beth Slabaugh (Dearborn, Mich.) had 13 kills and 13 digs.

“Although we didn't pick up the win tonight, we did come back twice and so I'm very proud of the way we played,” Head Coach Cheryl Carlson said.  “We really played what I think of as Stetson Volleyball tonight.”

Down 14-8 in Game 5, a crowd of 218 people saw the Hatters stave off ETSU temporarily with four consecutive points to get back within 14-12 before East Tennessee State's Desiree Dyck came up with the winning point.  Dyck led all players in the match with 28 kills while hitting .312.

Senior middle blocker Gina Iacona (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River HS) chipped in for Stetson with 14 kills and a .297 hitting percentage while senior setter Karla Readshaw (Huntington Beach, Calif.) had 50 assists.  Junior libero Melanie Boyer (New Holland, Ill.) keyed Stetson's defensive efforts with 14 digs.  The Hatters enjoyed a 9-3 advantage in blocks.

Laura Waddell had 19 kills and hit .293 for ETSU while Callie Kiselich had 13 kills and Marissa Mortensen provided a match-high 57 assists.  Libero Kaena Apana came up with 30 digs for the Lady Buccaneers.

The Hatters are back in action tomorrow at the Edmunds Center when they host A-Sun foe USC-Upstate (6-13, 0-6 A-Sun) at 5 p.m.