DeLand, Fla. – Stetson beach volleyball secured two wins on Saturday morning as they welcomed home alumni. The #16 Hatters began the day with a dominant 5-0 sweep over Palm Beach Atlantic, followed by a 3-2 victory against #14 Florida Atlantic.
"It was a really great morning for us," said Head Coach
Kristina Hernandez. "We started off strong against PBA having a really great 5-0 sweep there winning all in two sets. We changed a few things with our lineup today to look at some different things and I think the team responded really well. Against FAU, we came out really strong and everything was really close at the end. Vanessa and Grace being able to bounce back from being down 7-4 in the third set and pull it out 15-11 was huge and I thought that was a really great win for the team."
Against Palm Beach Atlantic,
Marta Carro and
Julia Radelczuk grabbed the first point of the match on court 3, 21-13, 21-14.
Vanessa Hurnikova and
Grace Goudy followed it up on court 4, 21-11, 21-18.
Katie Camp and
Maria Ozaeta clinched the match on court 1, 21-16, 21-14 and
Julia Czurylo and
Madeline Camp followed suit on court 5, 21-17, 21-8.
Caroline De Oliveira and
Youna Coens completed the sweep for the Hatters on court 2, 21-19, 25-23.
The Hatters kept the momentum going in their next match against #14 Florida Atlantic, jumping out to early leads by taking the first set on each court. Carro and Radelczuk dominated court 2, winning 21-17, 21-10, while Czurylo and
Madeline Camp triumphed 21-19, 21-14 on court 5.
However, Stetson faced setbacks as Ozaeta and
Katie Camp dropped their match on court 1, 21-15, 19-21, 11-15, and De Oliveira and Coens fell in a tight three-set battle on court 3, 22-20, 19-21, 14-16.
With the match tied at 2-2, it all came down to court 4, where Hurnikova and Goudy fought back from a four-point deficit in the third set to claim the victory, 21-13, 19-21, 15-11, securing the 3-2 win for Stetson.
Now 14-6 on the season, the Hatters will head to Jacksonville for the ASUN Mid-Season Tournament. They'll kick things off on Friday, March 28, facing North Alabama at 10:00 am and Austin Peay at noon.
