Jacksonville, Fla. – The Hatters went into a hostile atmosphere at Swisher Arena and came away with a 3-2 victory over Jacksonville clinching a spot in the ASUN Championship Playoffs.
The Hatters started the first set in excellent fashion securing a block from
Sophia Groom, followed up by another block from
Amaris Carter and Groom to put the Hatters up 5-2. Carter was all over the net as she three solo blocks and three blocking assists just in the first set alone. Stetson was up 7-5 when Head Coach
Yang Deng would challenge the call on the floor of a player making a touch on a ball that ended up being out. Deng would win the challenge giving the Hatters a five point lead instead. Carter would be joined by Balfour at the net for another block stopping a run from the Dolphins. The Hatters would increase their lead to six going into the media timeout. Later in the set
Nyah Molina would make a beautiful one handed set to
Sophia Groom who received the ball on her way down delivering a rocket for a kill. Carter and Groom would combine once again for a block before Carter would earn the seventh of the set. The Dolphins wouldn't go away easily thought as they cut the lead down to three but the Hatters wouldn't let it get any lower as
Anabelle Standish would win set point making the score 25-21.
The second set didn't go the Hatters way as they would fall 11-25.
The third set saw the Hatters exploding on a 5 point scoring run to go up 8-3 which included three straight kills from Standish. The teams would trade four point scoring runs. The Dolphins would slowly start cutting into the Hatters' lead when Standish would get her fifteenth kill of the match followed by an ace from
Nyah Molina to push the lead back to four. Stetson would close out the third set 25-20 while committing zero errors.
Going into the fourth set you could tell that these two teams were playing with nothing to lost as each time one team made a scoring run the other team would answer. The Hatters would fall in the set 22-25 as Standish would tally ten kills in the fourth set alone.
The final set of the match was back and forth to start with neither team leaving room for error. Carter's seventh block gave the Hatters the first two-point lead of the set at 6-4. The Hatters would end up on the unlucky end of a missed double touch call against the Dolphins but that wouldn't deter them. Stetson would then go on a four-point scoring streak to go up 11-7 as Standish would come through once again. The Dolphins would force the issue though tying the game at 12. The Hatters would get kills from Standish and Carter to win the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
Standish finished with a career high 28 kills as she was the only Hatter to finish the match in double digit kills. She added 13 digs to her numbers finishing with a double-double.
Nyah Molina tallied 48 assists on the night as Sugimoto would lead the team with 24 digs. Carter with her best blocking night finished with 7 as the team recorded 10 total.
Stetson will take on North Florida on Saturday night at 6pm as the outcome of several games tomorrow will have an effect on the seeding for the ASUN Tournament.
