TAMPA, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers made short work of their opposition both literally and figuratively Friday afternoon in the Florida Challenge in Tampa, blowing past Coastal Alabama South and Florida State College at Jacksonville each in less than an hour in 3-0 sweeps to improve to 11-0 on the year.  

 

The Bucs flexed their muscles early and often against Coastal Alabama in their first game of the afternoon, taking a quick 6-1 lead to begin the match before opening it up to a 15-5 game on a kill by Alondra Alarcon midway through the first.  They didn't relent as Roberta Purashaj dialed up three straight aces to make it 20-8 later on before Victoria Zibecchi ripped one cross court to give the Bucs the first 25-9.  

 

It was mor eof the same in the second as again the Bucs got out to a big early lead with Camila Brandalise finding Madu Fontes to put FSW up 9-4 to start the set before Brandalise hooked up with Sara Gasparini on the outside for a kill to make it 16-9 Bucs.  Three straight Nina Boledovicova kills put the Bucs on the doorstep of the set win and a Sun Chief attack long sealed it as FSW took the second 25-14 to go ahead 2-0 in the match.  

 

The third was competitive early on as the Bucs and Sun Chiefs found themselves knotted at six 12 points in, but Clara Maidantchik stepped to the service line and reeled off four straight including a pair of aces to put the Bucs in control at 10-6. The Bucs continued to put service pressure on Coastal as Fontes notched three aces in four points to make it 23-12 and Abby Toeniskoetter put a bow on the win with a putaway in the middle on an overpass to give FSW the third 25-13 and the match 3-0 in a swift 59 minutes.  

 

The Bucs hit .375 as a team in the win with 11 different players recording a kill.  Toeniskoetter led the way with 8 kills on 11 swings, good for a .727 hitting percentage while Brandalise dished out 20 assists in two sets of work. The Bucs notched 14 aces including 4 in the first set from Purashaj.  

 

 

The Bucs second match of the day pitted them against the Blue Wave of Florida State College at Jacksonville. 

 

The Blue Wave scored the first point of the first set, but it was almost literally all FSW from there.  The Bucs rolled off 10 in a row including highlight reel blocks from Izzy Collier, Victoria Zibecchi, and Anica Bobic to take a 10-1 lead and kept the pressure on, going on another 10-0 run moments later with Zibecchi at the service line to take an eye popping 23-3 lead late in the set.  FSW closed it out four points later on a solo block from Boledovicova to take the set 25-5.  

 

It was more of the same in the second as the Bucs raced out to a 14-3 lead behind a fury of kills from Fontes before back to back shots from Giulia Bonifacio made it a 21-9 game in favor of the Purple and Aqua deep in the set.  With no answer for the multifaceted FSW attack, the Bucs continued their surgical work of the FSCJ defense to close things out as Purashaj connected with Bonifacio again to give the Bucs set point and then with Toeniskoetter in the middle to close it out as FSW took the set 25-11 to go up 2-0 in the match.  

 

The third set was a different story as the Bucs were challenged for the first time on the day.  The teams traded points early to 9-9 before two straight from the Blue Wave gave FSCJ an 11-9 lead midway through.  It remained tight with FSCJ clinging to a two point lead until a kill from Bonifacio and then an ace from the newest Buc knotted the score back up at 15.  Three straight Blue Wave attack errors allowed the Bucs to push back in front and that propelled them to the finish line as Fontes dialed up a pair of late aces to finish things off as the Bucs took the third 25-17 to sweep the match 3-0.  

 

For the second straight game, every FSW attacker that played recorded at least one kill with Fontes notching a team high 10 and Bonifacio putting down 8 in 11 swings in her Buccaneer debut.  The Bucs again gave their opponent fits at the service line where they finished with 14 aces while also proving a formidable foe at the net with 14 blocks. 

 

 

The Bucs cruise to 11-0 with the wins and will put their undefeated mark on the line Saturday when they take on #15 Monroe at 12:30 PM to close out the Florida Challenge as well as the non-conference portion of their 2023 schedule.