FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers cruised to their 10th straight win Thursday night in Suncoast Credit Union Arena, sweeping the visiting State College of Florida Manatees 3-0 to improve to 13-2 overall and 8-0 in Suncoast Conference play. 

 

The Bucs string of slow starts continued on Thursday as SCF jumped out to an early 7-4 lead to begin the match.  A Manatee service error gave FSW the ball back and with Barbara Koehler at the service line, the Bucs ripped off nine in a row to erase the SCF lead and take a 13-7 lead of their own midway through the period.  They continued to push, getting back to back aces from Arianna Rossi to make it 17-8 and a huge stuff block from Deborah Ribeiro and Riley Oglevie to close the set out as the Bucs took the set 25-18 to go up 1-0 in the match.  

 

The Manatees again got off to a good start in the second, going up 4-1 after five points before FSW clawed back in to tie the score at 5 moments later.  The teams traded the next 10 points back and forth to 10-10 before a 4-0 burst for the Bucs highlighted by three blocks from Ribeiro and Oglevie pushed FSW out in front 14-10. They never gave up the lead again. Back to back rockets from Elissa Alcantara and Johnasia Carr stretched the Bucs lead to 19-13 and another from Carr sealed the set 25-16 to give FSW a commanding 2-0 lead at the intermission.  

 

The Bucs got off to a much better start to the third and never looked back.  Koehler, Ribeiro, and Maria Petkova opened the set with kills to give FSW a quick 3-0 lead and they pushed that lead to 7-2 on Petkova's third kill of the period. The Bucs held a five point lead to the midway point of the set at 15-10 and a huge swing and kill from Alcantara made it a 16-10 game to force a Manatee timeout. The Bucs opened up a 10 point lead on three straight hitting errors by SCF and took the set and the match in rather anticlimactic fashion on a Manatee service error as they won the third 25-14 to finish off the sweep.  

 

Nine different Bucs recorded a kill in the win with Petkova leading the way with 11 and Carr registering a career high 7 on just 10 swings.  Fiona Baker finished with 22 assists and 10 digs for her third double-double in four matches.  The Bucs finished with eight blocks as a team, four of those coming from Oglevie and Ribeiro, Oglevie added a fifth stuff later on to lead FSW in the win.  

 

The win is the 10th straight for FSW as they improve to 13-2 overall and remain unbeaten in Suncoast Conference play at 8-0. SCF battled but couldn't pick up their first win of the year as they fall to 0-8 overall and 0-7 in league play.  

 

The Bucs turn right back around at home again on Saturday when they host Santa Fe for the first time in Suncoast Credit Union Arena in a 2 PM matinee affair in Fort Myers. Season ticket holders can use their tickets from the originally scheduled September 4th match against Santa Fe, for entry into Saturday's game.  If you no longer have those tickets, simply reply to this email with your name and number of tickets and we will have tickets waiting for you at the box office on Saturday.