FORT MYERS, Fla.- In an NJCAA Top 5 showdown Saturday afternoon at Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myres, the #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers rose to the occasion, sweeping the #4 Miami Dade Sharks 3-0 to take over sole possession of first place in the Suncoast Conference standings with two games left to go.  

 

The first set lived up to it's billing as the Bucs and Sharks traded big blows early on with the set deadlocked at 16 midway through.  They continued to go back and forth with neither team gaining more than a one point advantage until back to back kills from Alondra Alarcon made it 23-21 FSW late in the period. Another blast from Alarcon made it 24-22 minutes later and Barbara Koehler finished the set off with a kill through the block to give the Bucs the set 25-22 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.  Alarcon led a 17 kill attack for the Bucs in the first, finishing off 7 kills on 9 swings to hit .778 in the period. 

 

The Bucs came out swinging in the second, scoring four of the first five points for an early 4-1 lead before stretching their lead to four at 10-6 on a block from Roberta Purashaj and Julia Lawrenz.  FSW slowly pulled away, upping their lead to five at 17-12 and then six at 23-17 on a kill from Koehler, before putting the Sharks away 25-19 on another Koehler kill to go up 2-0 in the match. FSW notched 17 kills for the second straight set in the second while siding out at a rate of 80% in the period.  

 

The third was a battle early on as a pair of big swings by the Sharks followed by an answer from Alarcon had the score tied at 10 after 20 points of action.  The score was still tied at 11 moments later when Arianna Rossi went back to the service line for FSW and dished up her first of five aces in the next seven points, opening up an 18-11 lead for the Bucs in the blink of an eye.  The Bucs got to match point at 24-16 on a kill from Maria Cecilia and after Miami Dade extended the match with five straight points, FSW finally put it away as Cecilia went through the block and down and started the celebration for the Purple and Aqua as the Bucs took the set 25-21 to sweep the match 3-0.  

 

FSW hit .284 in the win while holding the Nation's leading hitting percentage offense to just a .194 mark, over 130 points under their season average.  Alarcon led the way for the Bucs with 16 kills and a .483 hitting percentage while Koehler chipped in 10 kills on the outside.  Purashaj dished out a match high 36 assists and scooped up 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.  The Bucs finished with 9 blocks overall with Lawrenz coming up big with a match high 6, including 2 solos in the victory. 

 

The Bucs beat the Sharks for the fourth consecutive time, improving to 19-1 overall and 11-1 in Suncoast Conference play to take over sole possession of first place in the league standings with two games left to go.  Miami Dade drops their second straight to fall to 18-6 overall and 10-2 in conference action. 

 

FSW and Miami Dade will go at it again on Tuesday, this time in a 6 PM start in Miami with the Suncoast Conference Championship on the line for the Bucs.