Box Score DELAND, Fla. - The Stetson Hatters defeated the Ospreys of North Florida at the Edmunds Center 3-2 in an absolute slugfest on Friday night.
 
In the pivotal fifth set the Hatters would start on a 6-1 scoring run, forcing North Florida to use both of their timeouts. The Ospreys responded with a 1-3 scoring run before Head Coach Yang Deng called a timeout of her own to stall the comeback attempt. North Florida began to mount a come back as Stetson burned their second timeout up 9-8. The Ospreys continued their run, taking a 9-11 lead but the Hatters wouldn't go down without a fight, knotting the game up at 11 apiece before taking the lead on an ace from Haruka Sugimoto. The set soon became tied at 12 and again at 13 with neither team giving an inch. The Hatters would once again take the lead at 14 before a kill by Sophia Groom, one that was unsuccessfully challenged by North Florida, as the Hatters ended the match with the 15-13 victory.
 
The Ospreys drew first blood winning the first set by a score of 18-25. The two teams went back and forth until it was 17-18. North Florida then went on a 7-1 scoring run to finish the set.The Hatters would return the favor in the second set winning by a score of 25-22. 
 
The Ospreys began the third set on a 4-0 run but the Hatters were able to answer with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the score. North Florida then slowly mounted separation throughout the set as they would go on to win the set 18-25.
 
The fourth set would once again showcase the two teams trading blows. The Hatters fell behind in the set 15-18 before using their first timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Hatters answered with an emphatic kill from freshman Kayla Balfour. North Florida would go on a three-point run to make the score 18-22 as Coach Deng responded by calling her second timeout of the set. Down 18-23, the Hatters would go on a 3-0 run to cut into the deficit. Following a North Florida timeout, the Hatters would continue their run on a kill by Groom. The Hatters run extended to 6-0 as they took the lead 24-23, seeking for set point. After the score was tied at 24, a kill by Nyah Molina would give the Hatters the lead back before the score was tied once again at 25. Molina would answer the call again to make the score 26-25 before the Hatters captured the win 27-25.
 
Amaris Carter would lead the Hatters in kills followed by Groom with 11 while Molina added 33 assists to her timely kills. The Hatters defense really shined in the fourth and fifth sets as Lauren Vargo would lead the team with 17 kills as she started the first three sets at libero. Anabelle Standish and Carter followed her close behind with 15 digs. Stetson had 11 team blocks as their team effort was on full display. Carter and Molina both had double-doubles in tonight's contest.

The Hatters will be back in the Edmund Center tomorrow night, Saturday September 23. They will take on Jacksonville University at 6pm.