ODESSA, Texas- The Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers opened the Wrangler Classic in Texas with a bang on Friday, picking up 3-0 wins over #15 Hill and perennial National Tournament contender New Mexico Military in Odessa's OC Sports Center.  

 

The Bucs opened their tournament play in the Lone Star State with a battle against 15th ranked Hill, a National Tournament team from a season ago.  The Bucs got off to a good start, rolling off six points in a row early on with Viktoriya Ivanova at the service line to give FSW a quick 9-3 lead.  They continued to keep their distance from the Rebels, getting a kill from Maria Petkova midway through the set to take a 15-8 advantage.  Hill never threatened again as the Bucs put them away 25-19 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.  

 

Julia De Sa led the Bucs out to another good start in the second as her third kill of the set pushed FSW to a 9-5 lead early in the period.  Hill came back to knot things up at 20, but two more kills from De Sa and another from Riley Oglevie was enough for the Bucs to pull out a 25-23 win to go ahead 2-0 in the match. 

 

The third wouldn't have nearly as much drama.  Fiona Baker started on the service line for the Bucs and helped push the Bucs out to a 4-0 and then 8-1 lead to begin the set.  They quickly blew it open to a 17-7 lead on a kill from Yasso Amin and finished the match with another De Sa kill to win it 25-16 to complete the sweep.  

 

The Bucs hit just .183 in the match, but got a solid effort defensively, recording 50 digs and 7 blocks as a team in the win.  Petkova led the Bucs with 11 kills while De Sa chipped in eight and had 15 digs for FSW.  Baker led the Bucs with 33 assists in the win while Ivanova had a team high 17 digs and Amin led the Bucs with 5 blocks. 

 

 

In their second match of the day, the Bucs took on New Mexico Military, a 35 win team from a season ago and one who has recorded three straight Top 10 finishes at the NJCAA National Tournament. The Bucs were unfazed by the Broncos accolades, jumping out to a 12-8 lead in the first set to force a NMMI timeout.  The continued to build on their lead as Julia De Sa picked up a kill off the block and Yasso Amin rocketed an ace to make it 16-10 Bucs.  The teams played even over the final 18 points, but that was good enough for FSW as they rolled to a 25-18 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match.  

 

The second was all FSW from the jump.  An early 5-0 run for the Bucs, led by a trio of kills from Riley Oglevie gave them an early 8-3 advantage.  They continued to push until taking a double digit point lead at 19-9 when Fiona Baker found a hole in the Bronco defense on a second ball.  A kill later on from Kianie Cummings gave the Bucs set point and they finished NMMI off on a Bronco error to give the Bucs a 25-12 win and a 2-0 lead in the contest.  

 

NMMI showed some fight in the third, taking a 7-5 lead to get going to force FSW to come from behind. That they did.  A kill from Maria Petkova and two more from Oglevie pushed the Bucs in front and they never looked back again. A great play on the backline from Viktoriya Ivanova started a Baker to De Sa hook up to give the Bucs a 16-13 lead midway through and back to back NMMI errors stretched the FSW lead to 20-15 moments later.  The Bucs finished strong, closing out the Broncos with a 25-19 set victory to sweep the match 3-0. 

 

The Bucs hit a solid .352 in the match, hitting better than .300 in all three sets.  Oglevie powered the offense, putting down 11 kills in just 15 swings without a single error to hit .733 in the match while Amin and De Sa each finished with nine kills for the Bucs.  Baker ran a well-oiled offense, dishing out 32 assists while Ivanova pulled up 12 digs and Amin was in on five blocks to lead the team.  

 

 

FSW has now won four straight to improve to 4-1 on the year.  

 

The Bucs' road won't get any easier on Saturday in the Lone Star State as they square off against a pair of Top 10 ranked foes in #10 Trinity Valley and #5 Odessa to wrap up tournament play.