TAMPA, Fla.- It didn't come without a little bit of drama, but the #6 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers got it done Tuesday night on the road at Hillsborough, winning 3-1 to complete an undefeated Suncoast Conference schedule in just their second season of existence. The Bucs dropped the first set before roaring back to win the next three behind a record breaking performance from Julia De Sa to improve to 16-3 on the year.  

 

The Bucs had trouble sustaining any momentum early on against the Hawks as a rash of service errors seemed to have killed every run they tried to make.  Hillsborough jumped out to an early 9-5 lead before slowly the Bucs came back to even the score at 16 midway through the period. A 3-0 run for the Hawks after back to back FSW hitting errors made it 19-16 and Hillsborough scored six of the last nine points of the set to take it 25-19 and stun the Bucs to take a 1-0 lead in the match.  As if it wasn't bad enough going up against a Hillsborough attack that hit .542 in the set, the Bucs shot themselves in the foot with six service errors to drop the first set by six.  

 

Early in the second it looked like the Bucs needed to buckle their seatbelts again as Hillsborough jumped out to a quick 4-2 lead.  A kill from Riley Oglevie got FSW going and they would go on to score eight of the next nine points of the set to take a commanding 11-5 lead.  Back to back kills from Julia De Sa later in the set pushed the FSW lead to seven and an ace from Viktoriya Ivanova made it 21-12 Bucs late in the set. Hillsborough cut it back to seven, but two big serves from Yasso Amin closed the set out, giving the Bucs a 25-16 win to even the match at 1.  

 

De Sa stayed hot as the third set got going and two more kills for the sophomore had FSW out in front 10-6.  Three straight from the Hawks made it a one point game and moments later Hillsborough took their first lead of the set at 15-14.  Tied at 16 moments later, a kill from Maria Petkova started a 3-0 run for FSW and they never trailed again as another kill from De Sa gave the Bucs multiple cracks at set point and Hillsborough gift wrapped it for them with an attack long to give FSW the set 25-19 to go ahead 2-1 in the match.  

 

The Bucs came at Hillsborough from all directions to start the fourth as kills from Petkova, Oglevie, and De Sa put them up 5-2 early on.  De Sa's 19th kill of the match midway through put FSW on top 15-9 and forced an HCC timeout.  Just when it looked like the Bucs were in the clear, the Hawks made one last push, closing all the way to within just two at 20-18 before an FSW timeout.  The Bucs got a much needed sideout on yet another De Sa kill and continued to hold a two point lead at 23-21 with the set and match on the line. Petkova put a ball away to give the Bucs three shots at the match and a Hillsborough attack wide allowed them to avoid any late drama as the Bucs won the set 25-21 to close out the match 3-1.  

 

De Sa had a monster night for the Bucs, hammering down a school record 22 kills and hitting .419 on the night from the outside.  Petkova matched her career high with 14 kills and also chipped in 10 digs for her second career double-double.  Amin was solid as usual in the middle, finishing off 11 kills and hitting .450 while again leading the Bucs in both aces and blocks with four each.  Fiona Baker dished out 50 assists for the second time in four matches while Ivanova led the back line with 14 digs in the win. 

 

FSW wins their seventh straight to improve to 16-3 on the year while wrapping up Suncoast Conference play a perfect 8-0.  Hillsborough drops to 9-11 overall and finishes third in league play with a 4-4 record but should be first in line for an at-large bid to the FCSAA State Tournament to join the Bucs in Jacksonville. 

 

The Bucs will wrap up the regular season on Friday when they hit the road once again to take on Indian River, who was just on the outside looking in on this week's NJCAA Top 20.