Charleston, S.C. -- Stetson improved to 3-1 on the young season with a 3-1 victory over Charleston Southern Friday afternoon at The Citadel Invitational.
The Hatters dropped the first set 25-21, but rallied for 29-27, 25-21, and 27-25 wins in the next three sets to take the match.
At 3-1, the Hatters are off to their best start since 1998.
"We started off a little bit slow in terms of how aggressive we wanted to be, but we picked it up after dropping that first set," Stetson head coach Kristina Hernandez said. "I think once we won that second set and we went into those extra points, it gave us a good amount of momentum."
After falling behind 1-0 in the match, Stetson led the second set 14-10 and later 19-17. The Buccaneers (1-3) rallied to tie and then served a set point at 24-23, but a kill by Shelby Connors knotted the score 24-24. Stetson then held set points at 25, 26, 27, and 28 before Kayla Weller knocked down a pass from Michelle Kastner to even the match at a set apiece.
In the third set, Stetson trailed by three in the later stages but a strong finish lifted the Hatters to a four-point win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
A tightly contested fourth set saw the game tied at 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 before CSU took a 24-23 lead and served for set point. The Hatters answered with a kill by Erika White to knot the score once again at 24. A Buccaneer attack error then gave Stetson the advantage, Madison Akins and White assisted on a game-winning block that gave Stetson the 3-1 victory.
Freshmen McKenna Foster and Connors led the way for the Hatters with (unofficially) 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Akins also reached double digits in kills with 11.
Weller dished out 31 assists and Alexa Drost picked up 10 digs.
"Shelby really stepped up today," Hernandez said. "She was really big in the middle for us and scoring a lot of points, which gave McKenna a lot room to breathe and Maddie as well. Alexa was really great defensively and on serve receive for us. She was really steady and kept us going in a lot of rallies."
The Hatters will play their final two matches at The Citadel Invitational on Saturday. Stetson will face North Carolina A&T at 10 a.m. and The Citadel at 1 p.m.
