CHARLESTON, S.C. ? The Stetson University volleyball squad was knocked off in its first match at the CSU Invitational by Tulsa, 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-18), on Friday at the CSU Field House.
Fresh off Atlantic Sun Player of the Week honors, senior Karla Readshaw notched another solid game for the Hatters (2-2) dishing out 22 assists while recording 14 digs. Junior Rebecca Orzechowicz registered her third double-double of the season with 11 kills and 11 digs and libero Melanie Boyer also garnered double-digit digs with 12.
“We struggled a little bit against their big, strong block,” said head coach Cheryl Carlson. “We played really well defensively though and took a very good team into some long rallies.”
Beth Slabaugh's five first-game kills were not enough as Tulsa (2-2) reeled off eight of the final nine points of the game. The Golden Hurricane jumped out to an 11-6 lead, but the Hatters closed to within three on a kill by Gina Iacona at the 12-9 mark. That is the closest Stetson would get as Tulsa out-scored the Hatters 18-10 the rest of the way.
Game two was more of the same as the Hatters played neck-and-neck with the Hurricane the first half closing the gap to one at 16-15, but Tulsa proceeded to go on a 4-0 run and used a 6-0 run later to put away the game. Orzechowicz and Iacona did their best to keep Stetson afloat with five and four kills, respectively, but Emma Ridley countered with seven kills to pace Tulsa.
The final game of the match was played out just as a reflection of the first two games. The Hatters found themselves down one at the 13-12 mark, but once again the Hurricanes went on a 4-0 run and out-scored Stetson 17-6 to close out the match. Orzechowicz (five kills) and Slabaugh (four kills) provided the offense, but Tulsa's attackers proved to be too much. For the match, Tulsa out-hit Stetson .275 to .100.
Tulsa was led defensively by Malorey Grove's match-high 24 digs while Ridley and Fabiola Nepomuceno recorded 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
“We missed several serves trying to be over-aggressive, but I'm okay with that,” said Carlson. “We'll just have to re-group for the next match.”
Stetson will be back in action later today when they battle host Charleston Southern at 3 p.m.
