FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneer set a new program record with 14 aces in a 3-0 sweep over the visiting Indian River State Pioneers Saturday afternoon at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.  

 

Early on in the first it was a highly contested battle between two teams on opposite ends of the Suncoast Conference table.  With the game tied at 8, a kill from Madu Fontes got the Bucs the ball back and back to back aces from the freshman pushed FSW out to their biggest lead to that point in the set at 11-8.  The Bucs never looked back from there as another ace later in the set from Arianna Rossi made it a seven point game at 19-12 and back to back kills from Izzy Collier brought the set to a close with the Bucs taking the first 25-16 to go ahead 1-0 in the match. 

 

The second set followed a similar script as the teams were deadlocked at 10 at the 20 point mark and remained tied 10 points later at 15.  A big block from Maiana Coelho and Izzy Collier gave the Bucs the lead and they used the momentum to start a 7-1 run to take a 22-16 lead late in the period. Indian River got back to within four late, but another ace from Rossi put the bow on it for FSW 25-19 to give the Bucs a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. 

 

FSW jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the third after three straight aces from Coelho and they never relented.  A sharp cross from Alondra Alarcon pushed the lead to six at 15-9 midway through the period and FSW took a double digit lead at 22-12 on Coelho's fourth ace of the set.  A kill from Victoria Zibecchi gave the Bucs a bundle of cracks at match point, but they only needed one as Rossi dialed up FSW's 14^th ace of the match on the next play to give the Purple and Aqua the set 25-13 to finish off the 3-0 sweep. 

 

The Bucs finished with a program record 14 aces in the win including 5 from Coelho and 4 from Rossi.  The Bucs offense was locked in as well as they hit .391 as a team in the win, siding out at a 73% mark on the afternoon.  Five Bucs had six or more kills in the win let by Collier with 9 on 14 swings and Fontes with 8 in her first start of the season.  Alarcon, Zibecchi, and Julia Lawrenz combined for 17 kills without a single error, hitting .586 as a trio in the win. Roberta Purashaj led the Bucs with 20 assists while Coelho had a season high 13.  

 

FSW wins their 12^th straight to begin the season as they improve to 12-0 overall and 4-0 in Suncoast Conference play while Indian River drops to 4-11 overall and 0-4 in league play. 

 

The Bucs schedule will finally give them a little reprieve as after three games in five days, they will be off for four days before taking the floor Thursday to wrap up a four game home stand when they square off in a Top 10 battle with #10 Hillsborough at 6 PM in Suncoast Credit Union Arena.