ST. LOUIS– [STETSON BOX] [SPRING HILL BOX] [CARSON-NEWMAN BOX] Missouri Baptist Sand Volleyball got its first taste of game action on Friday in Orlando, Fla., at the Stetson University Tournament and the first year squad learned a lot. The Spartans struggled against the more experienced squads and dropped to 0-3 on the season.

Missouri Baptist (0-3) looked to build on the small things on Friday, as the team was up bright and early against the Stetson (Fla.) Hatters.

The Spartans took to the sand and nearly came-up with its first set victory against the NCAA D-I squad, but the Hatters shut-down Missouri Baptist in the end. Stetson shut-out the team from St. Louis and improved to 1-0 on the year in the process.

The No. 2-team of Mallory Dillon and Marion Couraud found its rhythm early, and though lost 2-0, looked good in the first set.

Match No. 2 on the day against former NAIA institution Spring Hill (Ala.) got better, but the result was the same.

Spartan teams at No. 1 and No. 5 pushed their competition to tiebreak sets, but both came just shy of picking-up points. The No. 1 team of Hannah Carey and Julia Whitfield dropped set one 21-15, but came roaring back in the second set. The pair won a nail-biter 24-22 in the second set and threatened all the way to the end, but lost 18-16 in the final set.

The No. 5 team of Karli Mezo and Cammi Davis also pushed its opponent and came-up just short. The team came out hot and won its first set 23-21, but dropped the next two consecutive sets as the Spartans dropped its second match of the day.

Missouri Baptist faced-off with Carson-Newman in its final match of the day and broke through to win its first team points of the season. Top Spartan team of Whitfield and Carey battled to a sweep of Molly Locke and Sara Fairley 22-20, 21-16

The Spartans will complete the tournament on Saturday as they face a pair of NCAA D-I squads in UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston (S.C.).