The Stetson sand volleyball team swept a doubleheader at Mercer Tuesday, posting 4-1 and 5-0 victories in the team's final two regular season conference matches of the season.
The Hatters improved to 14-2 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Sun, but the team must wait until UNF and JU play on Wednesday to learn its seed for next week's conference tournament.
"I was very pleased with our overall performance," head coach Kristina Hernandez said about Tuesday's matches. "Our blockers were very aggressive at the net today and made great decisions. Offensively, all of the pairs took a lot of risks and it paid off."
Kaley Anderson and Kaley Melville went 2-0 on the day at the no. 1 position, posting a 21-17, 21-19 win in game one and a come-from-behind 13-21, 21-17, 15-12 victory in game two.
The no. 2 pairing of Savannah Byl and Catherine Coston also went 2-0 on the day, grabbing a 18-21, 21-19, 15-10 win in game one and a 23-21, 24-22 triumph in game two.
Stetson's third-seed of Rachael Farrell and Julie Bassett split their two matches. After a narrow 2-1 defeat in game one (15-21, 21-15, 17-15), the duo bounced back with a 2-0 win in game two (21-13, 30-28).
At the no. 4 position, Maren Rygh and Jordann Dierickx cruised to a 21-19, 21-12 win in game one and survived a hard-fought 21-18, 18-21, 15-10 contest in game two.
Tiffany Creamer and Kristin Lind locked down the no. 5 seed, winning 2-0 in both matches (21-13, 21-13; 21-19, 21-15).
Katie DiGirolamo and Kendale Speyerer also went 2-0 in their two exhibition matches at the no. 6 seed.
"Serving was also a strength for us today," Hernandez said. "During our moments of frustration we kept our poise and got ourselves quickly out of them which is something we have really been working on."
The Hatters will play eighth-ranked Georgia State on Friday in Siesta Key in a match recently added to the schedule. Stetson will then participate in the annual Fiesta on Siesta Key tournament on Saturday and Sunday.
"We are improving day to day right now and I am excited for the upcoming weekend and the A-Sun Championship," Hernandez said.
