Fort Myers, Fla. – The Hatters forced the Bisons to a fifth set but are unable to complete the comeback, falling 2-3 in the ASUN Volleyball Championship Quarterfinals. 
 
The Hatters started off exactly as they drew it up with Haruka Sugimoto getting an ace to give them an early 1-0 lead. Both teams would trade points until the Hatters would take a 13-10 lead. Stetson aggressively attacked the net creating good blocking and forth the Bisons to commit attack errors. Stetson would hold onto the lead as the Bisons would commit their fifth service error. Sugimoto would make two incredible digs that would eventually lead to an Amaris Carter kill to increase the lead back to three. The next point was scored on a block from Leilani Vitale and Lily Mueller to push the Hatter lead to four. The Bisons didn't go away easily though as they tied the set at 21. However, a kill from Sophia Groom followed by a kill from Anabelle Standish would push Stetson back out front and they would take care of business from there winning the set 25-23. 
 
To start the second set, Lipscomb would take a one point lead however each time they went to serve they committed service aces. The Hatters would continue fighting back tying the Match at seven and then ten. Down two Selin Kalkan and Groom would get up above the net and to cut the lead to one but at the media timeout the Bisons had a 12-15 lead. The Hatters would keep cutting into the deficit but fell 20-25.
 
Set three started off with a. 3-0 run from the Hatters getting a block from Standish and Groom, followed by a kill from Groom and then a kill from Vitale. Each time the Bisons tied the score back up the Hatters would answer with a kill as the score would go back and forth until the media timeout. Lipscomb would rattle off three straight points before the Hatters would answer with three straight points of their own before tying it a few points later. The two teams would continue to battle but the Hatters would drop this set 23-25. 
 
The Hatters would take a 4-2 lead in the fourth set and were about to extend their lead when Lipscomb would win the challenge making it 4-3. More service errors from the Bisons would keep the Hatters lead intact until later in the set when the Hatters would find themselves down 8-10. The two teams would go back to trading blows until Stetson would get kills from Vitale, Standish and Groom to tie the set up at 13. Stetson would continue their surge as they would take a three point lead go up 20-17. Kills from Kalkan and Carter would keep the three point lead before Standish would finish the set with a kill giving the Hatters a 25-21 set win. 
 
Stetson found themselves trailing 1-3 before back to back kills from Standish tied the set at 3. The two teams would trade points until the Bisons took a 6-8 lead with the team switching sides. The Hatters would struggle out of the switch finding it tough to get back in rhythm as they dropped the set 10-15. 
 
Standish and Carter tied for the team lead in kills with 16. Molina led the team in assists with 25 followed by Elif Yasar with 24. Haruka Sugimoto could be found all over the floor collecting 31 digs. Mueller and Groom would each total four blocks as the team totaled nine. The team benefit on 19 service aces from the Bisons through the first four sets. 
 
The Hatters finish the season with a 13-16 record and will look to continue the success of this team going into 2024.