Posted: Nov 20, 2021
HUTCHINSON, Kan.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers would have preferred it to come a little later in the day, but closed a record breaking 2021 season in style Saturday afternoon at the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas, defeating archrival #3 Miami Dade 3-0 to finish 5th in their second trip to the Big Dance.
As expected, it was a battle early on between the Bucs and Sharks as after Miami Dade jumped out to a 5-1 lead to begin the match, FSW fought back to tie the score at 10 moments later. A pair of attack errors by the Sharks allowed the Bucs to take the lead and they never looked back. FSW stretched their lead to 17-13 on a kill from Maria Cecilia and got to set point on a kill out of the middle from Julia Lawrenz before a Miami Dade service error sealed the Sharks fate as the Bucs took the first 25-19 to go up 1-0 in the match.
The second followed the same script early on as again it was Miami Dade jumping out to a 4-1 lead to start the set before FSW fought back to tie the score at 10. It remained nip and tuck for the next 15 points with neither team taking more than a one point lead until the Sharks pushed in front 19-17 on a service ace. Miami Dade scored one more to go up three and looked like they were going to even things up when the Bucs came storming back to tie the score at 22 on a kill from Deborah Ribeiro. The teams traded points to 23-23 when a huge block from Ribeiro and Barbara Koehler gave the Bucs set point and another monster stuff from Cecilia and Ribeiro put it on ice as FSW came from behind to take the set 25-23 and go up 2-0 in the match.
Par for the course, Miami Dade started the set up 5-1 before the Bucs answered to tie the score at 9 moments later. The Bucs and Sharks went blow for blow for the next 20 points, neither team able to gain an advantage as they remained tied at 19. A pancake dig by Arianna Rossi on the next point kept the ball alive for the Bucs and it wound up resulting in a kill from Cecilia to put FSW up one 20-19. A Miami Dade attack error made the Bucs lead two and they held that to 22-20 when an ace from Fiona Baker pushed the FSW advantage to three before a Miami Dade timeout. Baker came out of the timeout with another perfectly placed serve for her second straight ace and fittingly, the Bucs went to their captain on match point and Maria Petkova delivered her 522nd career kill in her final game as a Buc, sealing the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
Cecilia led the Bucs with 12 kills in the win while Ribeiro finished off 7 kills and hit .538 in the match while also chipping in 4 blocks for FSW. Baker led FSW with 16 assists while Yunju Lee dished out 14 and Rossi paced the back row with 12 digs in the victory. The Bucs finished with 9 blocks as a team in the win led by Koehler and Lawrenz who were each in on 5.
The Bucs finish their second National Tournament in program history in 5th place, closing the season 25-5 with 13 wins over Top 20 ranked opponents and 6 wins over Top 10 ranked foes. Miami Dade finishes 6th at 18-5 with three of their losses on the season coming to the Bucs.
