PRESCOTT, Ariz.- The #6 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers split a pair of games at the Dalton Overstreet Invitational in Arizona on Friday, dropping a 3-1 decision to #4 Utah State-Eastern in their first game of the day before bouncing back with a 3-0 sweep of Eastern Arizona to close out their day.
The Bucs first match of the day was a rematch of last season's NJCAA National Tournament 7th place match with FSW going head to head with #4 Utah State-Eastern.
The first set was tight early on with Utah State-Eastern holding a slight advantage at 10-9 after 19 points of action. It remained close at 17-15 later on when the Eagles stepped on the gas to put the Bucs away 25-17 and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second it was the Bucs who controlled the pace early on, taking a 7-4 and then 13-8 lead after ack to back errors from the Eagle attack. They cushioned their lead to six on a bullet down the line from Maria Cecilia to make it 19-13 and went on to score the next five points to blow it open to a 24-13 game before finishing the Eagles off 25-15 on a kill from Riley Oglevie to even the match at 1-1.
Utah State-Eastern held an 11-10 lead in the third when a 5-1 run by the Eagles pushed the Bucs into a five point hole at 16-11. They never recovered from the burst and as Utah State-Eastern finished off the set 25-19 to go ahead 2-1 in the match.
The Bucs got off to a nightmare start in the fourth as the Eagles raced out to an 8-1 lead. They played even for the next 12 points but couldn't narrow their gap and Utah State-Eastern closed the set on an 8-0 run for a decisive 25-9 victory to win the match 3-1.
FSW hit a season low .042 in the match, committing 28 hitting errors in the defeat. Fiona Baker and Yunju Lee each had 15 assists for the Bucs while Deborah Ribero led FSW with seven blocks in the loss.
#6 FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN/#4 UTAH STATE-EASTERN BOX SCORE
The Bucs second contest of the day was a family affair as FSW's Fiona Baker squared off against her little sister Kaia and Eastern Arizona.
Eastern Arizona jumped out to an early lead in the first, but FSW stormed back with a 6-0 run to take a 12-9 lead midway through the set. The Gila Monsters made a push to get back to within one at 20-19, but FSW finished the period on a 5-2 run to take the first 25-21 and go ahead 1-0 in the match.
The Bucs took control of the second early on, getting out to an 8-2 lead on kills from five different players. They continued to lay on the gas, stretching their lead to double digits at 18-8 on a big block from Maria Cecilia and Deborah Ribero before finishing the Gila Monsters out 25-16 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
The third started slow for the Bucs as Eastern scored the first three point of the set, but FSW quickly rebounded, taking their first lead of the period at 9-8 on a Fiona Baker to Julia Lawrenz hookup in the middle. Back to back blocks for the Bucs opened their lead to 16-10 later on and they never looked back, taking the third 25-20 to sweep the match 3-0.
The Bucs hit just .167 as a team in the win but held the Gila Monsters to .029 on the night. Lawrenz led FSW with nine kills and a .533 hitting percentage while Riley Oglevie added seven kills. Baker dished out 18 assists while Barbara Koehler led FSW with 11 digs and Ribero paced the Bucs with eight blocks including three solos.
#6 FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN/EASTERN ARIZONA BOX SCORE
The Bucs are back in action Saturday morning at 11 AM EDT when they take on their third top 10 ranked opponent in a week when they battle #2 Snow in another National Tournament rematch from last season.