The 2022 Stetson Beach Volleyball team is focused and ready to start the new season, both to embrace the challenges a new year brings as well as to put in the past the disappointment of last spring.
 
With only a few returning players, many don't recall seeing another team celebrating at the Cooper Beach courts after beating Stetson for the ASUN title. The players who do remember are focused on making sure something like that doesn't happen again this year.
 
Almost 10 months after the jarring loss to North Florida last April, much has changed within the Stetson program. Gone is the No. 1 duo of Carly Perales and Ana Costa along with several other veterans, but there is much hope among the Hatters for a bright future with an influx of talented freshmen.
 
"Our goals and expectations haven't changed here," Hatters' coach Kristina Hernandez said. "In the past, we have had some of our most successful seasons with younger groups and, even as young as this team is, they don't play young. They had a great fall and they have worked very hard to get ready for this season."
 
Hernandez, who took over as coach of the Stetson program in 2014, is entering her ninth year and is third in career wins among all collegiate beach volleyball coaches in the country. In her eight previous seasons the Hatters have won five ASUN titles and she has been named ASUN Coach of the Year four times.
 
She is looking to lead the program back to the NCAA Championship for the first time since the 2019 season and, this year, winning the ASUN title carries an automatic berth.
 
The Hatters will rely on a pair of preseason All-ASUN players to help lead the group of talented freshmen if they are to achieve their goals for the year. Junior Shae Henson (Merritt Island, Fla.) and sophomore Gabriella Bramante (Apex, NC) were selected to the preseason team after having earned post-season honors last spring.
 
"Those are two really experienced players for us who played at the higher seeds last year," Hernandez said. "Both had really good falls and we have paired the both with freshmen so they can balance the pairings a little. They are older and wiser and we expect them to be stable leaders for us, which is nice to have."
 
Both players indicated they are excited for the season and have high expectations for themselves and the team.
 
"We are pretty young, but a lot of our players have played internationally and are really good," Henson said. "I am really excited about playing with these freshmen. They have grown up so much in the time they have been here and I am excited to see how far we can go."
 
Bramante said that in the short time the team has been together, they have been able to build a close bond.
 
"We have a really great culture on this team and we are all focused on winning the ASUN championship this year to put us back on the road to nationals," Bramante said. "We have a lot of great competition coming up, starting with this weekend, but I know everyone is prepared and ready to fight for every point."
 
In addition to the two preseason All-Conference picks, the Hatters added a transfer from Central Arkansas, Colene Hamilton (Columbia, Ill.), who played in all 34 matches for the Bears last year as part of their No. 1 pair and brings a resume that includes 52 dual match victories.
 
Senior Lauren Domel (Bulverde, Texas) also returns after playing at No. 4 and No. 5 for the Hatters last spring, putting together an 8-7 record with wins over South Carolina and three against UNF. Sophomores Noelle Weintraub (Chandler, Ariz.) and Aleksandra Stadnik (Wroclaw, Poland) also played near the bottom of the order last year. Weintraub posted a 7-10 record while Stadnik was 14-10, including 6-1 in ASUN play.
Other returners are junior Oda Stray Homme (Kristiansand, Norway) and Shahar Rosner (Kibbutz Harduf, Israel), who have only limited experience.
 
The crop of first year Hatters who will be expected to make an impact is entirely made up of international students. The group include Canadians Audrey Gauthier (Boucherville, Quebec) and Klea Sirois (Longueuil, Quebec) along with a duo from the Czech Republic – Kylie Neuschaeferova (Prague) and Karin Zolnercikova (Orlova) – as well as Anete Namike (Marupe, Latvia), Katie Keefe (London, England) and sophomore transfer Carolina Ferraris (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
 
"We have a lot of options for how we will pair up because we have a lot of options and experience from a defender standpoint," Hernandez said. "We are just trying to find the right chemistry in the combinations, but I feel like we are going to be strong from top to bottom. We were a little inexperienced at the bottom last year, and that hurt us toward the end."
 
The Hatters enter the 2022 season ranked 19^th in the AVCA preseason poll, but will have plenty of opportunities to move up those rankings while playing a schedule that includes matches against 11 top 20 teams, including the defending national champions from Southern California, plus two others that received votes.
 
"It is the lowest we have been ranked coming into a season, but that is coming off last year, so we have a lot of work to do," Hernandez said. "In terms of our program, and what we expect, we have a lot of goals to compete at the top of the sport in addition to working to bring the ASUN title back home. Our caliber of play is good enough to be ranked higher, so it is all about going out and getting the wins to make that happen."
 
Stetson will have its first chances to begin that climb up the standings this weekend when they host No. 18 South Carolina and No. 20 Florida Gulf Coast along with the teams from Mercer and the College of Charleston for the Stetson Spring Fling.
 
Matches will begin Friday morning at 8 a.m. with South Carolina and FGCU facing off to open play. The Hatters will play Mercer in the 10 a.m. match and follow up against the Gamecocks at 2 p.m.
 
Play will continue on Saturday with Stetson facing College of Charleston at 8 a.m. to open the day.
 
Admission to watch the Hatters play at the Cooper Beach Courts is free. Fans are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, tents, coolers and other items to enjoy the competition on the three courts.
 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program is driven by a shared purpose. It is what inspires, motivates and binds us together. More than a task, a reason for being. THE HATTER PURPOSE is to create and provide an experience of a lifetime through teamwork and relationships to achieve excellence. This purpose is achieved through five Core Values: Communication, Integrity, Excellence, Value People and Commitment. To learn more about the HATS program and our Core Values, visit GoHatters.com/HATS. Get in on the conversation on social media by following Stetson Athletics on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For video content, visit our YouTube channels: Stetson Hatters, Stetson Athletics and, for live events, Hatter Vision.