FORT MYERS, Fla.- The murderer's row portion of the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers schedule came to a close on Sunday at Suncoast Credit Union Arena.  The 12th ranked Bucs opened the day with their second straight win over a top 10 ranked opponent, sweeping #6 Daytona State 3-0 before dropping a highly contested 3-0 battle with #1 Miami Dade in the nightcap of their busy day.  

 

It was a much anticipated matchup for the Bucs in their first dual of the day as they squared off against #6 Daytona State, whom they lost to in their opening game of the 2021 season 3-2.  The Falcons jumped out to an early lead, going in front 9-6 before holding that to 13-10 midway through the first. That's when the Bucs came alive, going on a 7-1 run out of a timeout, led by a pair of aces from Yasso Amin and a huge block from Kellen Valentim and Kianie Cummings to give the Bucs a 17-14 lead of their own. A block from Daytona moments later trimmed the Bucs lead back to one at 20-19, but with the set on the line, FSW stepped on the gas, scoring the final five points of the set, including another big block from Valentim, this time with Amin, to close out the set 25-19 and give the Bucs a 1-0 lead in the match. 

 

The second set followed a similar script.  Daytona again got out to an early lead and held a two point advantage at 14-12 midway through the set.  The Bucs came back to tie the score at 16 before back to back kills from Amin in the middle gave them a two point lead to force a Falcon timeout.  Once again, Daytona closed to within one late in the set at 19-18 and once again, it was FSW dominating the finishing points of the set. A kill from Julia De Sa started a 6-0 run for the Bucs to close out the set as Valentim banged a pair to the floor and De Sa went off the block for set point to give the Bucs a 25-18 victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.  

 

It was a nip and tuck battle early in the third with neither team leading by more than a single point through the first 20 of the period.  Another block from Amin and Valentim broke that streak as FSW went in front 12-10 and the Bucs continued to lead by two to 17-15 later on.  Daytona scored the next point to make it a 17-16 game, but for the third straight set, it was all Purple and Aqua at the end of the set.  Fiona Baker found De Sa for a kill to start FSW on an 8-1 run to close the period as the Falcons had no answer for the multi-faceted Buccaneer attack.  Another kill from De Sa gave the Bucs match point and Valentim sealed the deal with a crosscourt rip to give the Bucs a 25-17 win in the third to sweep the match 3-0.  

 

It was an impressive defensive battle for both sides as FSW hit .286 as a team and held Daytona State to an .082 mark on the afternoon. De Sa posted a 12 kill, 13 dig double-double while Baker finished with 32 assists and 10 digs for a double-double of her own. Amin and Valentim were both beasts at the net as Amin racked up 11 kills and eight blocks in the win while Valentim was right there with her with 10 kills and eight rejections.  

 

 

After the big win, the Bucs had to refocus immediately as they faced an even stiffer task in #1 ranked and undefeated Miami Dade in their second contest of the day.  

 

It was a hot start for FSW who used an early 5-0 run to take a 10-5 lead on the Sharks. The Bucs extended their lead to 13-6 when Baker and Cummings combined for a big block.  Miami Dade slowly cut into the Bucs lead, cutting the FSW advantage to just one at 19-18.  A kill from De Sa gave FSW a two point lead at 22-20, but unlike their first match of the day, the end of the set was not friendly to the Bucs this time. The Sharks picked up a side out and went on to score the final five points of the period, two via solid blocks on Buccaneer hitters to flip the script and take the first 25-22. 

 

The Bucs again got off to a good start in the second, jumping ahead 6-1 behind a big serve from Amin.  Miami Dade scored the next five though and the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 6.  An ace from Viktoriya Ivanova and another Valentim/Amin block gave the Bucs a 12-9 lead midway through the set and they continued to stay one step in front of the Sharks to 17-14. Miami Dade went on the offensive and outscored FSW 6-1 over the next seven points, erasing the Bucs lead and giving the Sharks a 20-18 lead of their own. The Bucs never led again.  They played toe to toe with the top ranked Sharks to the finish line, but the two point advantage was enough for Miami Dade to remain in front and a kill in the middle gave the Sharks the set once again by the score of 25-22 to go ahead 2-0 in the match.  

 

It was all Miami Dade to start the third as the Sharks jumped out to 5-0 and 7-1 leads on FSW.  The Sharks remained in front 14-10 later in the set when finally the Bucs showed some life, getting a block from Amin and Katie Dickey on the outside and a kill from Amin on an overpass to get them back on the right track.  The Bucs went on to score six of the next seven points to take their first lead of the period at 16-15. A well timed Miami Dade timeout killed the Bucs momentum as the Sharks scored the next six points to again push back out in front and FSW didn't have time to recover this time.  Miami Dade closed out the set with a kill to take it 25-19 and sweep the match 3-0.  

 

The big Miami Dade block gave the Bucs troubles in the match as FSW hit just .162, due in large part to 17 hitting errors.  Amin led the Bucs with eight kills while Cummings had six kills and five blocks in the defeat.  Dickey finished with seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage while Giovanna Bello and Viktoriya Ivanova tied for the team lead with eight digs. 

 

 

FSW finishes a three match in three day stretch, all against NJCAA Top 10 ranked opponents, 2-1, moving them to 9-3 on the season.  

 

The Bucs will turn their attention back to Suncoast Conference action on Tuesday when they travel to Bradenton to take on State College of Florida in a match set for a 6 PM first serve.