Playing its third match in a 24-hour span, the Stetson volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Rutgers Saturday morning on the final day of the Spartan Classic.  The Scarlet Knights (9-1) won by scores of 25-19, 25-16, 25-15.

The Hatters (3-9) collected five aces in the match, but committed 26 attack errors and hit just -.019.

"Rutgers played well, they have a good team, they are well coached, and they executed better than we did today," Stetson head coach Tim Loesch said.  "But what I was disappointed with was our unforced errors, not just attacking but blocking, ball handling, and some mental errors that didn't show up in the box score."

Set one was a tight battle early on, with the score tied at the 7, 8, 10, and 11 point marks.  A 5-0 run by the Scarlet Knights put Rutgers in the driver's seat for the set, though Stetson did trim the lead to three at 18-15 and later at 22-19.

In set two, the Hatters held an early 2-0 advantage, but Rutgers used a 7-1 spurt to grab the lead.  Back-to-back points by Stetson cut deficit to 7-5, but the Hatters would get no closer the rest of the set.

The Scarlet Knights opened the third set on a 7-0 run to take control of the game.  Stetson responded with its best run of the match, scoring eight of the next 11 points, to cut the lead to 10-8.  During that stretch the Hatters received two aces from Monique Russell, two kills from Morgan Pautsch, and a kill each from Kaley Melville and Catherine Coston.

But Rutgers answered back with a 10-1 run of their own and went on to complete the 3-0 victory.

Melville led Stetson with six kills, while Kelli Carneal and Pautsch added four kills apiece.  Russell collected 13 digs and four aces, and Ellen Hawks picked up a pair of blocks.  Pautsch posted a .273 attack percentage.

"Morgan Pautsch had a good day, but that was about the only real highlight we had," Loesch said.

Rutgers, a member of the Big East Conference, hit .243 for the match.  It was the first volleyball meeting between the two schools.

Stetson will return home to face Florida Atlantic at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.  The Owls defeated the Hatters in five sets back on Aug. 31.

Update: Kaley Melville was named to the Spartan Classic all-tournament team