DELAND, Fla. — After winning the opening set, the Lamar University volleyball team had to overcome adversity and battle back after going down 2-1 in the match.

The Cardinals fought back to win the fourth and fifth sets to notch their first win of the season over the Stetson Hatters Saturday morning at the Edmunds Center during the final day of the Hatter Invitational.

"As a team, I believe we are taking steps in the right direction. We just need to clean up some areas of our game," said head coach Ariel Apolinario. "It was awesome seeing some of our athletes grow in front of our eyes. I'm glad we already have two five set matches under our belt. We were tested early during our opening weekend and were able to get a great deal of information because of it.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win two of our three matches, but we came up one set short. Most importantly, I thought we grew up this weekend. Our energy has shifted to our Tuesday match against a very athletic team coming into our home."

MATCH 3: LU vs. Stetson

LU was down 10-6 early in the first set before putting together a 4-0 run to tie up the score. Hailey McEllrath served up a pair of aces during the run.

The lead changed hands two more times until the Cardinals took control with a four-point lead after a kill from Lyric Jordan.

Stetson then gained momentum with a 4-0 run of its own to tie the score.

LU answered back with a 7-0 run that featured kills by Taisha Rhone, Maja Malinowska, McEllrath and Jordan.

Keeley Nellis got an ace for the set point.

The second set had a different tune as the Hatters never trailed and the score was tied only once.

Stetson carried its momentum into the third set by using a 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead to eventually take a 2-1 advantage in the match.

To start the fourth set, the Hatters held a short-lived 3-1 lead until the Cardinals scored four unanswered points to lead 5-3.

From that point on, the Cardinals were in control until Stetson went on a 4-0 run to tie up the score at 17-all.

The lead changed five times until LU closed out strong on a 5-0 run. Kinley Elms highlighted the run by tallying three straight kills.

LU continued its hot streak on offense as it began the fifth set on a 6-0 run with a pair of kills from Malinowska and another kill by Elms.

Alexa Gonzalez added to the rally with a service ace.

The Cardinals took advantage of four straight attack errors to increase their lead to nine.

Jordan, Malinowska and Daniella Udegbunam tallied the final kills of the set to seal the deal.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Gabby Baker was named to the all-tournament team after finishing with 54 digs, 16 assists, one kill and four service aces for the weekend.

She had a game-high 19 digs against Southern Miss.

MATCH NOTES

• Elms finished with 13 kills, five block assists and five digs.
• Malinowska added with 13 kills and 13 digs.
• Jordan tallied 12 kills and seven digs.
• Rhone had nine kills, one solo block, one block assist and two digs.
• The Cardinals finished with six solo blocks. McEllrath had three.
• LU also tallied 18 block assists as McEllrath and Elms each had five while Udegbunam had four.
• Gonzalez aided the offense with 25 assists while she also had 12 digs and one service ace.
• Jo Moffitt had 21 assists, one service ace and three digs.
• LU finished with six service aces. McEllrath and Nellis had two each.
• Baker led the defense with 17 digs.

UP NEXT

The Cardinals host Prairie View A&M on Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.