Posted: Nov 19, 2021
HUTCHINSON, Kan.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were upended in the NJCAA National Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday, falling 3-0 to the #5 Missouri State- West Plains Grizzlies to end the Bucs dreams of a National Championship.
The first two points of the match was a precursor to how the rest of the night would go for FSW as back to back hitting errors to begin the contest allowed Missouri State-West Plains to get out to an early lead and the Bucs played catch up the rest of the way in the first. The Grizzlies stretched their lead to five midway through the set at 13-8 and pushed it to six at 20-14 later in the period after an FSW attack wide. The Bucs never threatened, falling 25-19 as West Plains grabbed a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second followed nearly the same script as once again, a pair of early hitting errors by the Bucs allowed the Grizzlies to take the lead position early on and never look back. West Plains added to their lead midway through the set, taking a 14-9 lead and forcing an FSW timeout before putting it in cruise control to finish off a 25-18 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
With their backs to the wall in the third, the Bucs finally showed some fight, jumping out to a 10-4 and then 13-6 lead thanks to kills from Maria Petkova. Slowly but surely, the Grizzlies closed the gap, scoring four straight to cut the Bucs lead to 13-10 and continuing to push until they drew even at 19-19 moments later. The score was tied at 21 when back to back FSW hitting errors allowed West Plains to take their first lead of the set and the Grizzlies took advantage, closing the set on a 4-2 run to take the set 25-23 and finish off a 3-0 sweep of the Bucs.
Petkova had 14 kills and 12 digs for her seventh double-double of the season and in the process became just the second FSW player in program history with 500 kills in her career. Barbara Koehler joined Petkova in the double-double club, going for 11 digs and 10 kills in the defeat. Yunju Lee led the Bucs with 19 assists while Arianna Rossi paced FSW with 16 digs.
The Bucs drop to 23-5 on the season with the loss whiles West Plains continues their hot late season run, improving to 28-5.
West Plains advances to the Final Four where they will take on defending National Champs Iowa Western with a trip to the National Title match on the line.
FSW falls to the consolation bracket where they will now try to battle their way back for a 5th place finish. Their task won't be easy however as their opponent Friday is #1 Blinn in a battle of the Buccaneers at 2:30 in the Sports Arena.
