DELAND, Fla. ? The Stetson volleyball squad began conference action with a solid 3-0 (31-29, 30-21, 30-16) sweep over Campbell on Friday at the Edmunds Center. It marked the second time this season the Hatters swept the Camels as Stetson prevailed over the A-Sun foe at the Charleston Southern Invitational on Sept. 1.
The Hatters (6-8, 1-0 A-Sun) were led by a stellar performance from their middle blocker Gina Iacona. The senior led all players with 13 kills while hitting at a .600 percentage. Stetson also received its usual consistent performances from its pair of outside hitters in Beth Slabaugh and Rebecca Orzechowicz as each registered 11 kills. Senior Karla Readshaw directed the offense with a match-high 39 assists as well as three service aces and junior libero Melanie Boyer led the defensive effort with 15 digs.
“Everybody played well once again,” said head coach Cheryl Carlson. “We played some great defense and did a good job of staying patient in the first two games. Once we got it going we ended up on top.”
The first game was back-and-forth the whole way as Campbell (6-10, 0-1 A-Sun) took Stetson into extra points. With the score tied at 29, Slabaugh and Sarah Sears notched back-to-back kills to secure game one. Campbell stayed in the first game with solid hitting only being out-done, .229-.220, but unforced errors would haunt the Camels the rest of the way. Orzechowicz recorded a game-high six kills with Iacona and Slabaugh each registering four.
With the second game beginning much like the first the Hatters decided to take matters into their own hands. With the score tied at 14, Stetson reeled off a 4-0 run and ultimately cruised to the win. Campbell hurt themselves with 10 total attack and service errors, but Stetson took advantage of the miscues to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The Camels had eight more attack errors in the final game while the Hatters garnered a .250 attack percentage led by five kills each from Slabaugh and Iacona. Stetson jumped out to an 11-4 lead and ran away with the game to clinch its first conference win of the season.
“It's definitely nice to start the conference season 1-0,” added Carlson.
Femi Alabi led the Fighting Camels with 12 kills and Melissa Harvey provided a match-high 17 digs.
Stetson will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 22 when they host A-Sun member Gardner-Webb at 2 p.m.
