Jacksonville, Fla. ? Three Hatters recorded at least 17 kills as the Stetson volleyball team (10-15, 4-7 Atlantic Sun) outlasted host North Florida in the final 2007 Atlantic Sun conference match for both teams. Although the Hatters closed conference play with back-to-back wins, they were prevented from qualifying for the A-Sun tournament for the first time since 1995 due to Gardner-Webb's win over Lipscomb this afternoon.
Stetson won the match by scores of 26-30, 30-26, 28-30, 30-16 and 15-11. Trailing in the fifth game 5-2, Head Coach Cheryl Carlson steadied the team during a timeout as the Hatters rallied for seven of the next nine points to take a lead they would not relinquish.
The Hatters were able to force the decisive fifth-game thanks to a 30-16 win in Game 4 when they were trailing two games to one in the match. Stetson took the lead for the first time at 8-7 after a service ace from senior Rachel Miller (Longwood, Fla./Orangewood Christian HS) and did not give it back, finishing on a 10-5 run.
The first three games were all close affairs, decided by a total of 10 points. UNF got the win in Game 1 by closing on a 7-3 run while Stetson took Game 2 on the strength of a 7-0 run after falling behind 19-15. It seemed as if a repeat of that feat was in the cards for Game 3 when the Hatters fought back from a 26-16 deficit with another 7-0 run to close within 26-23 and later made it 29-28. However, following an Osprey timeout, the home team staved off Stetson on a kill from Claire Yonutas.
Junior outside hitter Rebecca Orzechowicz (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep HS) led the Hatters with 19 kills, adding seven digs in the process. Senior middle blocker Gina Iacona (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River HS) recorded 18 kills while senior outside hitter Beth Slabaugh (Dearborn, Mich.) tied her season high with 17 kills and added 15 digs, her second-highest total of the year. Miller tied her career high with 23 digs.
Senior setter Karla Readshaw (Huntington Beach, Calif.), the current A-Sun Player of the Week, had another strong match, notching 54 assists, 19 digs and six kills, while sophomore Laura Boyd (La Crescenta, Calif.) had eight kills and hit .368 for the match. Junior libero Melanie Boyer (New Holland, Ill.) had 15 digs.
The Ospreys (4-24, 1-10 A-Sun) were led by Maegan Weigert's 24 kills and 16 digs while Kaley Read had 15 kills and hit a team-high .282. Libero Nikki Prock made 24 digs and setter Madeline Belvin recorded 52 assists.
Stetson closes out the 2007 campaign Tuesday evening at home against Flagler College. First serve at the Edmunds Center is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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