The Stetson University volleyball team opened the second half of conference play with a 3-0 setback at Jacksonville University Tuesday night.

Behind late surges in the first and second sets, the Dolphins (19-2, 10-1 Atlantic Sun) won by scores of 25-16, 25-21, 25-17 to post their ninth win a row.

The Hatters fell to 15-10, 6-4.

"We struggled with our side of the net today," Stetson head coach Tim Loesch said. "We did not dig well or pass well, and that kind of affected our play. We did a couple of things better, we served a little bit better at times and we blocked a little bit better. JU was the more consistent and better team in most of the areas."

Senior Kaley Melville led the Hatters with 13 kills, and moved into third-place among Stetson's all-time kills leaders (1178).

Classmate Ellen Hawks recorded seven kills on 13 attempts without an error for a .538 attack percentage.

Alexa Drost served as the team's libero for the final two sets and finished with 11 digs.

Kayla Weller registered 26 assists.

"I thought Mel Melville and Ellen Hawks had very good games," Loesch said. "Alexa Drost stepped up and played some libero for us when we needed her to and she did well."

The Dolphins hit .320 for the match and collected nine aces.  The Hatters hit .192.

Stetson will return to action at 7 p.m. Friday night at Kennesaw State in a match broadcast live on ESPN3.

Notes: Stetson's top three all-time kills leaders are now Kira Semdley (2001-04) 1339, DeeAnnDempsey (2002-05) 1265, and Kaley Melville (2010-Present) 1178 ... Ellen Hawks has moved into fifth-place among the school's all-time block leaders with 364 (#1 in the rally scoring era) ... Stetson handed JU its lone A-Sun loss this season back on Sept. 21 in DeLand (3-2) ... The Hatters have played seven straight 3-0 matches.