JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University volleyball opened a three-game homestand to end the regular season Wednesday night at Swisher Gymnasium, as they faced off against Stetson University for the final time in the regular season. After winning the opening set of the night, the Dolphins (3-11, 1-9) narrowly lost the next two sets before storming to win sets four and five, downing the Hatters (5-6, 4-6) in a marathon match that lasted more than two and half hours by a score of 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 24-26, 27-25, 15-9).
 
"We've been telling this team since August to trust the process, and tonight was the culmination of that, along with belief we could do it," said head coach Maggie Couture. "They've been putting in the work and trusted the process all season long and got things done at an extremely high level tonight. I think what was big for us was our ability to adjust in-match and be willing to play patient volleyball. They (Stetson) don't make many errors and they play consistent volleyball. Long rallies are a something that aren't uncommon when playing them, and we just needed to be patient and not force things, and we were able to do that and create opportunities we were able to capitalize on."
 
"With our middles, we've been working more and talking about being available in transition and they have been doing a great job of late. Sydney was big for us tonight and chose her shots well and was able to come up in big situations for us. Our offense really shined tonight and that was in large part due to the effort of everyone. This was a whole team win, our bench gave some great contributions, giving feedback and input about defense and shot selections. Yes, we had posted great numbers on the stat sheet, but even those who don't appear on that deserve credit for helping us win tonight."
 
"Matches like this are fun and stressful at the same time," said Couture. "Seeing this group go and out and compete at such a high level and do what they did tonight is so much fun to watch as a coach. Now we can build off of this win and look ahead to this weekend against FGCU."
 
Jacksonville began the night off right, coming out swinging and running out to an early 10-5 lead. Sydney Bolding had three kills early and spearheaded the opening run by the Dolphins along with Jenna McNamara and Isa Dostal. Stetson battled back to get within one at 11-10 and hung around with JU, trading points and tying the set on two occasions, the last of which came at 17-17. It was then the Dolphins reeled off four-straight points by way of McNamara, Barbora Romancova and Hannah Edelman to retake the lead for good at 21-17 en route to winning the set 25-20.
 
The Dolphins carried their momentum from the end of set one into the start of set two, once again taking the early lead at 7-3 behind a pair of kills from Bolding, two service aces and some Stetson attack miscues. JU continued to lead and was able to steadily increase their advantage as the set progressed, leading by as much as seven at 18-11 following a kill from Autumn DeSantis and two more errors by the Hatters. Stetson broke out the rally caps and strung together a 12-3 run that swung the momentum in the set squarely in their favor, taking the lead 23-21. The Dolphins responded with a quick 3-1 burst behind Bolding and McNamara to even things at 24-24 and extend the set. Stetson managed to get the last gasp in in the night's second stanza, however, scoring the last two points to win 26-24.
 
After going down to the wire in set two, Jacksonville again came out the aggressor in set three, scoring four-straight to open the set and seven of the first 10 points. Stetson didn't wait to rally though, as they scored to quick points back-to-back to make it 7-5 before the two sides settled into trading points back and forth. The Hatters gradually clawed closer and closer and rattled off three in a row trailing 15-14 to snatch the lead from JU. The Dolphins battled back to reclaim the lead with kills from McNamara and Bolding and an ace from Romancova that made it 18-17, but that lead wouldn't last long as once more the Hatters tied the set and the two teams exchanged points. A 5-1 Hatter run made it 24-21 and again, Jacksonville battled back to extend the set behind kills from Autumn DeSantis and Dostal to even things at 24-24. But once more, Stetson managed to scratch across the final two points to eke out another 26-24 win to take the lead in the match.
 
The evening's fourth stanza was a give-and-take affair in the early offing, with gaining a definitive edge until Stetson managed to score four-straight and lead 8-6. The Hatters managed to keep the Dolphins offense at bay and eventually led 18-13 in the late going before a 4-0 run put JU right back in the thick of things at 18-17 and eventually retake the lead three points later as part of a 7-2 run at 22-21. Stetson responded and advanced to set match point at 24-22, but Jacksonville wouldn't go down without a fight, rallying behind kills from DeSantis and Dostal to once more tie the score and extend the set for a third-straight time. A Hatter kill made it 25-24, but they were unable to close things out, committing three consecutive errors to allow JU to take the set 27-25 and force a decisive fifth set.
 
Jacksonville scored first in the final frame of the evening on a service error by SU and never looked back. Bolding and Dostal followed with kills and a Gyrani Rogers ace made it 4-1 JU. Following a Stetson kill, the Dolphins scored four of the next five to advance the score to 8-3. The Hatters tried to claw back one final time and got within three at 9-6, but 5-2 sequence led by three kills from Bolding and two from McNamara all but sealed the door for the Hatters, who committed a service error on the final point of the night as Jacksonville captured the set 15-9 and the match 3-2.
 
Bolding turned in a career night, registering 21 kills and hitting an eye-popping .562 for the match in addition to posting eight blocks, including two solos. Four other Dolphins finished the night with double-figure kill totals, with McNamara ending the evening with 14, Romancova and DeSantis finishing with 12 each and Dostal turning in an 11-kill effort. Camryn Honn dished out a season-best 61 assists and led the way with 21 digs, while Avery Perosa notched 20 digs to go with five assists. Edelman, Rogers and Addyson Lewis had two service aces each as the Dolphins recorded nine aces for the night. As a team, JU recorded season highs with kills (72), total blocks (14) and assists (70) while posting their second-best hitting percentage of the year at .242 and hitting the 80-dig mark for the second time this season.
 
The Dolphins will be back in action Friday at 7 PM at Swisher Gymnasium, welcoming FGCU to town for the final meetings of the regular season between the two teams.