Miami Beach, Fla. -- The Stetson beach volleyball team fell 4-1 to No. 2 Southern California before rebounding with a hard-fought 3-2 win over 19th-ranked South Carolina Saturday at the FIU Turf and Surf Invitational. 

With the split, the ninth-ranked Hatters completed the weekend tournament with a 2-2 mark and improved to 18-6 overall on the season.

In the first match of the day, Stetson's No. 1 seed of Sara Putt and Vendy Strakova saw their season-long 21-match winning streak come to end.  The Trojans' top pair of Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes won in two sets, 21-11, 21-12.

USC also took 2-0 victories at the 2, 3 and 4 seeds.  However, Stetson's No. 5 seed of Jamie Walsh and Alexa Richardson worked extra points in both sets to take a 26-24, 24-22 victory over Zoe Nightengale and Jo Kremer of the Trojans.

In the afternoon match, Stetson and South Carolina were tied 2-2 when Putt and Strakova battled their way to a three-set victory. The Hatters top seed won by scores of 21-17, 12-21, and 15-13 to clinch the match for Stetson.

Also for the Hatters, Walsh and Richardson won in straight sets at the 5 seed, 21-8, 21-10.  At the 4 seed, Madison Akins and Samantha Harris rallied for a 2-1 win by scores of 16-21, 24-22, 15-8.

Stetson will visit Mercer for an Atlantic Sun doubleheader at 2 p.m. Tuesday.