JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An all-around gritty effort propelled the Jacksonville University volleyball team to a marathon 3-2 victory over Stetson in ASUN Conference action, Tuesday evening at Swisher Gymnasium.

"We battled tonight. We could tell by the way we practiced the last few days that we were ready to compete again," stated first year head coach Evan Muys. "We have been working a lot on our block and defense and it showed tonight."

The Dolphins (3-18, 2-7 ASUN) held the Hatters just eight kills each in the first two sets as Jacksonville raced out to a 2-0 lead behind 25-13, 25-23 set wins. Meanwhile, Jacksonville dazzled with a combined 33 kills in the first two sets, hitting .500 in the opener.

Though it looked like Jacksonville might make it an easy night in front of its home crowd, the Hatters had something different in mind and rallied back in sets three and four, 25-22, 25-16, to force a fifth set.

Despite the score of the fourth set, Jacksonville carried over a hard-charging momentum into the deciding game.

Added Muys, "We were trying to do whatever we could to get some momentum going into set five. It's such a sprint; you need the momentum and we started to get it at the end of set four."

Down 22-10, the Dolphins won three straight points, then three of the next five for a 6-2 run, before Stetson (12-9, 4-5 ASUN) finally managed to tie the match, 25-16.

With that momentum now lit in the fifth, the Dolphins inched past a 5-5 deadlock with a 4-0 run as kills from graduate student Sara Dyslin and a service ace from junior Mallory Mattingly gave Jacksonville a 9-5 lead. Though Stetson would jostle within one, 12-11, Jacksonville never allowed the Hatters an opportunity to tie the set and, after a called timeout with that one-point lead, the Dolphins put the match away with three of the next four points, 15-12.

Four Dolphins recorded 10 or more kills, while Mattingly (21 kills, 12 digs) and senior Lauren Petersen (49 assists, 10 digs) recorded double-doubles.

Petersen's 49 assists are a career-high for the Nashville, Tenn. native, while Mattingly's 21 kills inched her closer to the 1,000 career kill threshold and she needs just 68 more to become the ninth player in program history to reach the milestone.

Dyslin finished the night with a season-high 17 kills and three blocks, including two solo, while fellow graduate student Hailey Devlin added 11 kills, six digs, and three blocks.

Sophomore Hannah Marchand neared an impressive double-double with 11 kills and tied her career-high with seven blocks. From the service line, both Mattingly and junior Natalie Wehner recorded career-high four aces on the night. Additionally, junior Morgan Dees posted a season-high 11 digs in the effort.

The Dolphins hit the road for a pair of matches this weekend, first paying a visit to Liberty on Friday, Oct. 19 before returning to the Sunshine State to meet up at FGCU on Sunday, Oct. 21.