DeLand, Fla. -- The Stetson volleyball team let a 2-0 lead slip away and fell 3-2 (22-25, 20-25, 27-25, 25-16, 15-12) to visiting Florida Gulf Coast Saturday afternoon at the Edmunds Center.

The Hatters (14-8, 5-3 Atlantic Sun) fell for the first time in a five-set match this year while the Eagles (14-8, 7-1) moved into a first-place tie with Lipscomb in the league standings.

"I felt like we didn't really stick to what was working for us," Stetson head coach Kristina Hernandez said.  "We got really sloppy on our serve.  We had been doing a really good job for the first three sets, but in the fourth set we let them back in."

With the match tied 2-2, Stetson led 8-6 at the changeover and 10-6 shortly thereafter, but FGCU tallied nine of the final 11 points to close out the contest.

"In the fifth set, we had a really nice lead, and then we kind of just gave it away," Hernandez said.  "We hit some balls out, we started down-balling and tipping, and that just gave them an opportunity to score off of defensive transition."

Jessica Armstrong led three Hatters in double figures with 14 kills.  McKenna Foster and Shelby Connors recorded 11 kills apiece.  Kayla Weller registered 46 assists.  Alexa Drost (14 digs), Madison Akins (12 digs), and Alexis Villa (10 digs) each collected double-figure dig totals.  Connors added five blocks for the Hatters.

Stetson served a season-high 12 aces, but committed nine serving errors.

"We were very in and out with how aggressive we were, and we gave away a lot of free points," Hernandez said.

FGCU outhit Stetson .215 to .145.

Jessica Barnes and Olivia Mesner each had 15 kills to lead the Eagles.

The Hatters will visit Lipscomb at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a game broadcast live on ESPN3.