During a midweek practice session for the Stetson volleyball team, a downed generator across campus caused a momentary blackout at the Edmunds Center. After a brief pause in the action, head coach Kristina Hernandez had her players resume practicing in the half-lit gym.
“For me, anything we can do to make the situation more challenging, I am all for,” Hernandez said. “They enjoyed it for the couple of minutes it lasted, It just made things a little bit more competitive and more fun. They had to pay attention and focus a little bit more.”
The Hatters (3-6) are looking to keep the power switch turned on this weekend as they travel to Wilmington, N.C. for the UNCW Courtyard by Marriott Volleyball Classic. Following a solid weekend at the Stetson Invitational that featured a pair of lengthy five-set matches, Hernandez is hoping her squad continues to show improvement in the final regular season tournament of the year.
“We were more consistent all the way around and more competitive (last weekend),” Hernandez said. “I just want to see us continuing to do that. I want to see us hit consistently on every set. Our serving has been better this week. I feel like we are starting to clean that up. The main thing is we want to see all of our unforced errors get cut in half this weekend.”
Stetson will face undefeated Maryland-Eastern Shore (10-0) to open the tournament at 5 p.m. Friday. The Hatters will then play twice on Saturday, battling Presbyterian (2-8) at 10 a.m. before meeting tournament-host UNCW (6-3) at 7:30 p.m.
“I think it is going to be a good tournament for us," Hernandez said. "There are going to be some very good teams there, and hopefully we can finish on a high note before we start conference.”
Free live video will be available for the Stetson vs. UNCW match on Saturday night at UNCWSports.com. Live stats, the Stetson volleyball twitter feed, and the HatCheck text messaging system presented by OSIA will provide in-game updates all weekend long.
Blocking Game
As a team, the Hatters rank third in the A-Sun in blocks-per-set (1.91). Freshman Madison Fitzsimmons is tied for the conference lead in overall blocks (39) and she ranks second in blocks-per-set (1.15).
Assist Totals
Senior Kayla Weller ranks fourth in school history with 3,105 assists. She is 41 assists shy of moving into third place in school history, and 60 assists shy of moving into second place.
Digs for Drost
Senior libero Alexa Drost made her season debut last weekend and picked up 42 digs in the two matches combined. She collected 17 digs against FIU and 25 vs. Mercer. As a team, the Hatters picked up a season-high 81 digs vs. the Bears.
All or Nothing
The Hatters have played five 3-set matches and four 5-set matches this season. Stetson has not played a 4-set match as of yet.
