LAKE WORTH, Fla.- Playing as a ranked team for the first time in program history, the #15 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers took care of business in sweeping fashion Friday afternoon in Lake Worth, downing Palm Beach 3-0 in their final non-conference tune-up of the 2021 season.
The Bucs came out of the gates a little bit slow with Palm Beach getting out to an early 6-4 lead in the first set. FSW recovered quickly though, getting a 7-0 run with Yasso Amin at the service line to turn the tides and take an 11-6 lead of their own. An ace from Viktoriya Ivanova later on stretched the Bucs lead to 17-10 and they were never threatened again as they finished things off with a kill from Kianie Cummings out of the middle to take the set 25-16 to grab a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set was tight early on with neither team leading by more than two until a kill from Julia De Sa midway through the set gave the Bucs a 12-9 advantage over the Panthers. Moments later, a block by the Panthers evened the score at 15 and the teams traded points to 17-17. A kill from Katie Dickey got the Bucs back on the right track and sent FSW on a 7-3 run to give them set point before Fiona Baker put one on a tee for De Sa who hammered it home to give the Bucs the second 25-21.
With momentum on their side, the Bucs dominated the third. FSW opened up an early 7-2 lead and quickly pushed it to 11-3 on an ace from Dickey. The Bucs continued to push, eventually padding their cushion to 19-10 when Amin stuffed a Panther attack to put FSW on the verge of the sweep. Palm Beach made one last ditch effort to get back into the set, but the Bucs lead was too much as an attack long sealed the Panthers fate as FSW took the third 25-17 to sweep the match 3-0.
The Bucs hit a season high .429 as a team in the win with a number of FSW hitters having big statistical contests. De Sa led the way with 13 kills and a .545 hitting percentae in the match while Amin had 10 kills and hit at a .692 clip. Kellen Valentim played just one set, but made the most of it, recording six kills on nine swings, good for a .667 hitting percentage. Drawing her first start of the season, Dickey had 6 kills on 12 swings and hit .417 while also recording a pair of aces for the Bucs. Fiona Baker quarterbacked the Bucs offense with 35 assists in the win while Ivanova led FSW with 11 digs.
The 15th ranked Bucs improve to 6-2 on the season while Palm Beach drops to 2-4.
FSW will now turn their sights to Suncoast Conference play where they begin their eight game schedule on Tuesday on the road in St. Petersburg where they will take on the Titans in a 6 PM first serve.