Before the Stetson volleyball team even took the court on Saturday, the Hatters knew they had earned a berth to the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship for the third straight year. This year's tournament will be held in Nashville, Tenn., on the campus of Lipscomb University.
Lipscomb took its turn in DeLand Saturday, and the Bisons came away with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-22) victory over the Hatters.
Stetson (10-17, 4-9) will be the No. 6 seed for the tournament and will learn its quarterfinal opponent later Saturday.
"It is nice to be able to have an opportunity to continue to play and extend our season a little bit," Stetson head coach Kristina Hernandez said. "We made a lot of changes today, and I think some people did some good things. I think we'll see some different things tomorrow. I'm just focused on trying to put the right lineup out there for the tournament so we can be competitive."
Madison Akins led the Hatters with 12 kills and a .455 attack percentage despite playing just the final two sets. Shelby Connors added seven kills and Kayla Weller had 30 assists. Weller surpassed the 3700-assist mark for her career.
Brittany Estes had 11 kills to lead the Bisons (21-8, 13-1).
Stetson will host NJIT at 1 p.m. Sunday in the final match of the regular season. Seniors Alexa Drost, Michelle Kastner, Cailyn Prewitt, and Kayla Weller will be honored prior to the match.
Notes:
Haley Tippett became the third Hatter freshman in as many years to record 300 kills in a season. Tiffany Creamer did so in 2013, and McKenna Foster in 2014.