DeLand, Fla. - Stetson Beach Volleyball opened the season and the Stetson Spring Fling with a pair of dominant 5-0 victories. The Hatters first defeated Mercer 5-0, then followed up with another 5-0 win over Nebraska.

"Overall, it was a really great opening day. I was really happy with the team. We had a lot of new pairs and new faces, but I felt like everybody really stepped up today. I think some moments where we might've had our back against the wall a little bit we saw a lot of really gritty response from our team and I really loved how Youna and Grace pulled out that third set against Nebraska. They were down and then they came back and had two big points and for Youna to seal the game with the block on game point in that situation was really huge. I'm really excited going into tomorrow and we will see what we can do.

In the opening match against Mercer, Youna Coens and Grace Goudy got the Hatters on the board with a 21-14, 21-16 win on court 2. Marta Carro and Julia Radelczuk then secured a 21-17, 21-18 victory on court 3, followed by Maria Ozaeta and Katie Camp who triumphed 21-15, 21-12 on court 4. Vanessa Hurnikova and Hanna Gubik fought through a tough three-set match, eventually winning 21-14, 9-21, 15-11. Julia Czurylo and Madeline Camp completed the sweep with a 21-13, 21-19 win on court 5.

After a brief break, Stetson returned to the sand to face Nebraska. Czurylo and M. Camp cruised to a 21-9, 21-10 win on court 5 to give Stetson the first point. Carro and Radelczuk followed suit with a 21-16, 21-14 victory, and Ozaeta and K. Camp clinched the third point with a 21-14, 21-15 win. Hurnikova and Gubik held off Nebraska in a tight first set, 21-19, before dominating the second set 21-6. The sweep was completed by Coens and Goudy, who dropped the first set 19-21 but bounced back to win 21-15 in the second and pulled off a 17-15 win in the third.

Stetson will return to Cooper Beach on Saturday, February 22, to take on Stephen F. Austin at 9:00 a.m. and Eckerd at 11:00 a.m.