Beach Volleyball March 18, 2017 Athletic Communications

Hatters Fall in Dramatic Battle with Georgia State

Tavares, Fla. -- An epic third-set battle at the 1 seed between Stetson's Kristin Lind and Darby Dunn and Georgia State's Chelsea Ross and Delaney Rohan first came down to the wire and then went deep into extra points. Way deep.

After the two pairs combined to stave off 12 match points, Georgia State finally came away with a 27-25 win and a 3-2 victory in the first match of the day at the Stetson Beach Invitational.

"I think that we batted and we have been battling, we just have to figure out a way to close out these close sets," Stetson head coach Kristina Hernandez said. "I feel like we have game point a lot and we are not closing it out."

The Hatters only lost six sets the entire match, and all six sets came by the two-point minimum. At the 5 seed, Tiffany Creamer and Rachel Noble dropped a two-set marathon, 25-23, 27-25.

At the 4 seed, Julie Varga and Lauren Durham took the opening set 21-16, but then fell 21-19 and 15-13 in the next two sets.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, Stetson's 2 and 3 seeds rallied for 2-0 wins to tie the contest 2-2. Emily Carroll and Kaylee Anderson won 21-15, 21-13 at the 3 seed, while Maggie Skjelbred and Samantha Harris won 21-16, 21-18 at the 2 seed.

"The 2 and 3 seeds did a good job," Hernandez said. "They went in there pretty focused and were real aggressive the whole match. They were able to get us two really good wins. We lost by two points at the 4 and the 5 so we just have to grind it out on those last two points and go for the win a little bit more."

The match came down to the 1 seeds, where Lind and Dunn took the opening set 21-9 but fell 21-19 in set two. The third set became a dramatic seesaw affair with teams trading numerous match-point opportunities.

"I think Georgia State took advantage of some easy balls that we gave them there at the end," Hernandez said. "We didn't go after the big shot as aggressive as we would have liked. I think that was the difference. When you go point-for-point, you really have to go after it."

Stetson (4-8) will face New Mexico at 2 p.m.

vs. Georgia State (L, 2-3)

1. Chelsea Ross/Delaney Rohan (GSU) def. Kristin Lind/Darby Dunn (STET) 9-21, 21-19, 27-25

2. Samantha Harris/Maggie Skjelbred (STET) def. Haley Pa'akaula/LeeAnn Starr (GSU) 21-16, 21-18

3. Emily Carroll/Kaylee Anderson (STET) def. Amie Held/Natalie Wilson (GSU) 21-15, 21-13

4. Brooke Weiner/Jessica Fourspring (GSU) def. Lauren Durham/Julie Varga (STET) 16-21, 21-19, 15-13

5. Georgia Johnson/Olivia Stasevich (GSU) def. Tiffany Creamer/Rachel Noble (STET) 25-23, 27-25

Ext. Jamie Walsh/Alexa Richardson (STET) def. Maddie Gordon/Ashley McGinn (GSU) 21-12, 21-14

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