FORT MYERS, Fla.- On a night in which they unveiled their 2020 Conference Championship and National Tournament banners, the firsts in school history, during a pregame ceremony, the #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers earned their best win in program history, upending #2 Miami Dade in an epic five setter between two of the nation's top teams to open their 2021 Suncoast Conference schedule. 

 

As expected, the first set was a back and forth affair between the Bucs and the Sharks, in a rematch of the 2020 FCSAA State Championship Game in Jacksonville. Neither team led by more than two points through nearly the entirety of the first set until a 3-0 run by FSW late in the period gave them a 24-21 advantage and three cracks at set point.  Miami Dade fought off the first chance for the Bucs, but Barbara Koehler put away FSW's second chance for a 25-22 win to put the Bucs up 1-0 in the match. The set featured 14 ties and three lead changes as the two team's stat lines were dead even with 15 kills and 5 errors a piece in the period.  

 

The Sharks came out with a vengeance in the second, opening up an 8-4 lead to begin the set and they never looked back.  FSW was able to get to within two on a pair of occasions, but never any closer than that as Miami Dade finished off the period on a 5-1 run to take it 25-18 and even the match at one a piece. 

 

Two huge blocks from Koehler and Deborah Ribero early in the third staked the Bucs out to a 6-3 lead to begin the set.  They extended their advantage on a kill by birthday girl Riley Oglevie, but four straight from the Sharks knotted the score up at 11 midway through the period. The two teams danced back and forth to 17-17 from there before a 3-0 FSW run fueled by a big kill from Maria Cecilia and another combo block by Ribero and Koehler made it a 20-17 lead in favor of the Bucs. Miami Dade pushed the Bucs to the limit, cutting their lead to just one at 24-23 late in the set, but Yunju Lee found Maria Petkova for a winner off the block to close the set 25-23 and give FSW a 2-1 lead into the fourth. 

 

The back and forth continued in the fourth as like in the second set, Miami Dade came out of the aggressors, taking a 7-3 lead to open the set and extending it to 13-6 midway through.  The Bucs never threatened as the Sharks kept them at arm's length to take the set 25-19 to set up a winner take all fifth.  

 

Things weren't looking good for the Bucs in the fifth as it looked as if Miami Dade was going to use their momentum from the fourth set to coast to a victory in the fifth as they led FSW 8-5 at the no longer existent changeover and then 10-5 two points later after a pair of kills.  A Miami Dade service error breathed some life back into the nearly dead Bucs and they took full advantage of the freebie, scoring five straight, including a pair of highlight reel roof blocks from newcomer Elissa Alcantara and Ribero to not only erase the big Shark lead, but take an 11-10 lead of their own before a Miami Dade timeout. The Sharks had a chance to tie the score with an uncontested swing from the pin, but their attack sailed wide and the Bucs gladly banked the point to go in front by two 13-11.  With momentum now on the Bucs side and the electricity building inside of Suncoast Arena, Ribero was in on her third block in eight points, this time with Petkova on a backrow attack, to give the Bucs three cracks at match point to seal it. They only needed one as a tough serve by Fiona Baker forced the Sharks to free ball it back over to the Bucs on the third contact and FSW knew exactly what to do with that, getting a good pass to Baker who set a dime to Cecilia on the right side, and she went off the Shark block for the kill to finish off a 15-11 win and give the Bucs the match 3-2 to send the home crowd into a frenzy. 

 

An emotional FSW Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen said after the match "Nights like these are special. These nights are for our fans, our community, our administration, our faculty and staff, and for our past and current players who ALL work so hard to make this happen." 

 

A number of Bucs put up big stat lines in the win.  Petkova led three Bucs with double-doubles, going for 15 kills and a match high 22 digs while Lee finished with 19 assists and 19 digs, and Koehler had 14 kills and 11 digs.  Cecilia finished with 11 kills and a .333 hitting percentage for the Bucs while Julia Lawrenz had 10 kills on 23 swings without an error in the middle to hit .435 on the night. Baker paced the Bucs with 34 assists and also picked up 7 digs in the win while Ribero tied a school record with 10 blocks and Rossi turned in another solid performance on the back line with 19 digs.  

 

The win is the second straight over the 2nd ranked team in the country for the Bucs as they defeated #2 Snow Saturday before the new polls came out shortly before first serve Tuesday to reveal Miami Dade as the country's #2 team.  At 6-2 on the year, FSW has now defeated five teams ranked inside the top 20 and has played five of the nine teams ranked inside the week three top 10 released on Tuesday. Miami Dade falls to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in Suncoast Conference play with their second heartbreaking five set loss of the early season.  

 

The Bucs will hit the road for the first time in conference play on Thursday when they travel to Indian River to take on the Pioneers in a 6 PM start before loading up and heading North Saturday to take on State College of Florida in a matinee affair in Bradenton.