Posted: Feb 16, 2021
BRADENTON, Fla.- The #8 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers earned their 10th win of the season Tuesday evening, making a quick road trip to Bradenton to bring back a 3-0 win over State College of Florida in Suncoast Conference action.
The first set was closer than expected early on as the 9-3 Bucs and 1-11 Manatees found themselves deadlocked at 12 midway through the period. Aces from Yasso Amin and Viktoriya Ivanova pushed the Bucs in front by a pair and they continued to build their lead as the set went along. They took a 20-17 advantage on a kill from Amin and pushed it to 22-17 on a kill from Julia De Sa. A kill in the middle from Kianie Cummings gave the Bucs set point and a crosscourt blast from Katie Dickey sealed the set 25-20 to give FSW a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Bucs got off to a huge start in the second and never looked back. With De Sa at the service line, FSW raced out to an 8-0 lead and held that to 16-8 midway through the set. State College of Florida got to within four late in the period, but the Bucs outscored the Manatees 5-1 to close the set to win it 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Three early aces from Amin pushed FSW out to a 9-4 lead to begin the third. The Manatees came back to make it a one point game before the Bucs stepped on the gas for a 5-1 run to cushion their lead to 16-11. A huge block from Riley Oglevie and Amin gave FSW a six point lead and a kill from Amanda Mendes moments later kept it a six point game in favor of the Bucs. Back to back errors by FSW late in the set allowed SCF to get to within two at 22-20, but the Bucs took care of business down the stretch to hang on for a 25-21 win to sweep the match.
FSW hit .253 in the match and sided out at a rate of 67% in the win. De Sa led the Bucs with 10 kills while Oglevie and Mendes combined for 8 kills and 0 errors on the right side for FSW. Amin had 8 kills, 6 aces, and 5 blocks in the middle for the Bucs.
The Bucs improve to 10-3 overall on the season with the win while remaining unbeaten in Suncoast Conference play at 3-0. State College of Florida falls to 1-12 overall and 0-3 in league play.
FSW is back in action on Thursday when they return home to wrap up the first round of Suncoast Conference play with a 6 PM date with Hillsborough.