Hatters Selected for NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship

No. 8 Stetson will face No. 1 Southern Cal in the First Round

DeLand, Fla. -- After a week of uncertainty surrounding its postseason fate, the Stetson beach volleyball team got the news it had been hoping for Sunday night.

The Hatters are headed back to Gulf Shores.

Stetson was selected as the No. 8 seed and will face No. 1 seed Southern Cal Friday morning in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. The Hatters (29-8) and Trojans (28-4) will begin the double elimination tournament at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU.

"I feel ecstatic, I am super excited for our team and our program," Stetson head coach Kristina Hernandez said. "I know we've been waiting all day, all week for this. I know that there were a lot of good teams being considered, so I'm excited that we get to be there. Obviously the team is excited, but now we have to focus on the next part and get ready to compete when we are there."

Stetson is ranked seventh in the nation in the AVCA Beach coaches poll. The Hatters have won a school-record 13 matches in a row and captured their third straight ASUN Championship last week in DeLand.

"It feels amazing," junior Sunniva Helland-Hansen said. "It is just a joy to see that we're considered one of the top eight, which I think we really deserve. I just feel very grateful for the work we put in and everything that we sacrificed to get there. I feel this is an opportunity to enjoy the sport even more and show that we are there to compete."

Stetson and USC will be meeting for the second time this season. The Trojans defeated the Hatters 4-1 at USC's Merle Norman Stadium in Los Angeles on March 7.

"I like the matchup because we have played them this year," Hernandez said. "We played them right after we had that Long Beach game, and we were on a emotional high/low kind of thing. I know that they feel good about that matchup, and that's always good going into a tournament like this. It is obviously a very good opponent, so we just have to prep and get ready for that match."

The Stetson-USC winner will advance to play the winner of the LSU-Pepperdine match at 4 p.m. Friday, while the loser faces an elimination match at 2 p.m. Friday. The championship continues through Sunday.

Also joining the field are UCLA, Florida State, Cal Poly, and Hawai'i.

The Hatters will be making their second appearance in the NCAA national championship. Stetson earned the No. 8 seed in 2016 and fell to FSU (3-0) and UCLA (3-2).

ESPNU will televise Friday's matches, while ESPN2 and ESPN will broadcast the event on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition, live streaming coverage of every court in each match of the tournament will be available on ESPN3.

Notes: Stetson will be returning to Gulf Shores for the fourth time. The Hatters also competed for the AVCA Collegiate beach volleyball championship there in 2014 and 2015 ... Stetson's No. 7 national ranking is its second-highest ranking all-time. The Hatters finished the 2015 season ranked sixth in the AVCA poll ... No. 2 seed Sammee Thomas and Darby Dunn were named ASUN Pair of the Year and ASUN Pair of the Tournament. They are 30-7 in dual match play entering the NCAA Championship ... The No. 1 seed of Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Carly Perales are 27-10.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.

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Players Mentioned

#15 Darby Dunn: 6' 0"; Junior

#10 Sammee Thomas: 5' 7"; Senior

#2 Sunniva Helland-Hansen: 5' 8"; Senior

#13 Carly Perales: 5' 9"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#15 Darby Dunn
: 6' 0"; Junior

#10 Sammee Thomas
: 5' 7"; Senior

#2 Sunniva Helland-Hansen
: 5' 8"; Senior

#13 Carly Perales
: 5' 9"; Senior

Stetson University Athletics

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Hatters Selected for NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship

No. 8 Stetson will face No. 1 Southern Cal in the First Round

Players Mentioned

#15 Darby Dunn

#10 Sammee Thomas

#2 Sunniva Helland-Hansen

#13 Carly Perales

Players Mentioned

#15 Darby Dunn

#10 Sammee Thomas

#2 Sunniva Helland-Hansen

#13 Carly Perales