Beach Volleyball March 04, 2017 Athletic Communications

Hatters Split With FAU and FSU in Season Opener

Stetson rallies for 3-2 win over the Owls

The Stetson beach volleyball team opened the 2017 season in dramatic fashion, rallying for three-set victories at the 2 and 3 seeds to defeat Florida Atlantic 3-2 Saturday afternoon at the Cooper Beach Volleyball Courts.

The ninth-ranked Hatters then fell 4-1 to No. 2 Florida State in a battle of two top 10 programs.

With the match against FAU tied 2-2 and Darby Dunn and Kristin Lind facing match point on court 2, the pair scored three unanswered tallies to take the decisive third set 17-15.

"I saw some good things and some things we still need to work on," head coach Kristina Hernandez said. "I am glad we got the win vs. FAU, they played really well, especially on defense. They definitely put some pressure on us but I was glad that we survived through that and got that W."

Stetson had trailed 2-1 in the match, but Emily Carroll and Kaylee Anderson took a 15-13 decision in the third set at the 3 seed to tie the match 2-2.

"Kristin and Darby were a little slow to start but got better as the day went on. Emily and Kaylee, too. They lost that FSU match but they are playing much better than they were last year. They are doing some really good things."

Stetson also got win vs. FAU at the 4 seed, where Tiffany Creamer and Rachel Noble won 21-12, 18-21, and 15-10.

"I thought Tiff and Rach were very physical in the FAU match and able to close that out," Hernandez said.

Against FSU, Stetson got its lone win at the 2 seed where Lind and Dunn won 12-21, 21-16, 15-12. Carroll and Anderson took FSU's 3 seed to extra points in the third set before falling 18-16.

Creamer and Noble also fell in three sets at the 4 seed. At the 1 seed, Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Maggie Skjelbred dropped a hard-fought 21-18, 21-19 match. At the 5 seed, Jamie Walsh and Carly Perales fell 21-19, 21-15.

Alexa Richardson and Samantha Harris also saw action against FAU, falling 20-22, 21-15, 15-11 at the 5 seed.

"I think we had a lot of unforced errors at some seeds that put us in a tough position, so we have to fix some things, but I think it is pretty controllable," Hernandez said. "Hopefully we take this and be a little bit better tomorrow."

Stetson will host No. 10 LSU at 8 a.m. Sunday.

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