FORT MYERS, Fla.- Playing for the first time in 447 days, a little bit of rust was expected for the Florida SouthWestern State Volleyball team Friday afternoon as they opened their 2021 season against the Daytona State Falcons.  The Bucs struggled the first two sets, falling behind 2-0 before storming back to tie the match at 2 after four.  But they couldn't capitalize on a strong start to the fifth set as Daytona took it by two to win the match 3-2.  Later in the day, the Bucs took their frustrations out on Palm Beach, hammering the Panthers 3-0 to finish opening day 1-1. 

 

Against Daytona, the Bucs were out of sync as soon as the first serve was in the air.  The Falcons raced out to a 12-4 lead on a bevy of FSW errors and eventually took the set 25-16.  

 

In the second it was more of the same.  FSW shot themselves in the foot early on, falling beind 10-4 before making a game of it late but eventually falling 25-20 to go behind 2-0 in the match.  

 

With their backs to the wall, the Bucs showed some fight, using a 4-1 run midway through the third to take their first substantial lead of the day at 13-9.  They continued to push, scoring five of the final six points of the set to run away with a 25-15 win to force a fourth set.  

 

The Bucs looked like they were in trouble in the fourth, down 9-6 early, but they fought back to tie the score and then take the lead at 11-10.  They never trailed again, cushioning their lead to 16-12 before gutting out a 25-23 win to push the match to a deciding fifth set.  

 

All looked like it was going good for the Bucs in the fifth as they jumped out to an 8-2 advantage after 10 points in the set to 15.  Things changed quickly though and after three straight FSW errors, Daytona was back in the game and moments later the Falcons came all the way back to tie the score at 9.  Up two later on, back to back FSW hitting errors allowed Daytona to tie the score and a Falcon ace and Buc ball handling error put the nail in the Bucs coffin as Daytona took the fifth 15-12 to win the match 3-2. 

 

The Bucs hit just .203 as a team in the loss.  Yasso Amin had a career match, nearly doubling her best output of her best match of her freshman season with 17 kills on 35 swings while Julia De Sa chipped in 11 kills on the outside.  Amanda Mendes came off the Bucs bench for 6 kills on 12 swings without an error. Fiona Baker dished out 43 of the Bucs 48 assists on the match while Viktoriya Ivanova paced the club with 20 digs and Maria Petkova added 16.  

 

 

In their second match of the day, due to a last minute schedule change, the Bucs took on Palm Beach.  This match would have a different script for the Purple and Aqua.  

 

FSW started strong, jumping out to a 14-5 lead after strong stands at the service line from De Sa and Ivanova.  They were never challenged in the first, running away with a 25-9 win, wrapped up by three Amin aces in a span of four points to close out the set.  

 

It was more of the same in the second as again, FSW grabbed control of a 10-5 lead and pushed that to double digits right away.  A kill from Amin made it 19-8 late in the set and a cut down the line from Riley Oglevie sealed it 25-17 to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team. 

 

Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen changed the lineup up in the third to try to work in some new faces into the lineup, but it backfired as the Bucs found themselves entrenched in a dog fight all the way through the set.  It was 12-12 midway through and 20-20 later in the period before a pair of kills for Petkova gave the Bucs some breathing room up two.  The Panthers wouldn't go away though and tied the score at 23 before sending the match to extra points after an FSW service error.  The Bucs had another shot at the match but for the second straight match point, a serve into the net foiled it and they played on.  Eventually the Bucs would finish the Panthers off 29-27 and sweep the match 3-0.  

 

FSW hit .243 in the match, getting 10 kills from Petkova to lead the way and 9 more from Amin to wrap up her monster day.  Baker connected for kills on 40% of her sets in the match to finish with 32 helpers and both Ivanova and Amin owned the service line with 3 aces a piece.  

 

 

FSW starts the season 1-1 and will be back in action in the FSW Kick Off Classic on Saturday at 1 when they square off once again with Palm Beach to wrap up the tournament.