Posted: Oct 08, 2023
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Victoria Zibecchi and Alondra Alarcon combined for 29 kills to lead the #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers to a hard fought 3-0 win over the #17 Daytona State Falcons on the road Saturday afternoon to push FSW to a perfect 20-0 on the 2023 season.
Playing in front of a large and boisterous homecoming crowd for the Falcons, it took the Bucs a little while to get settled in in the first set as the two teams played even through the first 14 points before a 4-1 FSW run gave the Bucs their first cushion of the afternoon at 11-8. Slowly the Bucs widened the gap as Sara Gasparini scored on an out of system attack to extend the lead to 16-11, but Daytona wasn't ready to roll over just yet as the Falcons battled back into things and tied the score at 18 after a big block capped a 3-0 run later in the period. The teams traded points to 20-20 before Roberta Purashaj connected with Victoria Zibecchi to put the Bucs ahead for good. The Falcons stayed within striking distance, but FSW never let them in as the Bucs closed the set on a slide from Nina Boledovicova to win it 25-23 and go ahead 1-0 in the match.
The second followed a similar script early on as the teams played even through 12 points and were tied at 6. Two straight kills from Alondra Alarcon put the Bucs in front and they used it to go on a mini 4-0 run to stretch it out to a 10-6 lead midway through the set. Izzy Collier got a big kill in the middle to stretch the lead to 18-11 and the Bucs took a 10 point lead on Zibecchi's fifth kill of the set to make it 23-13. The set came to a close the opposite way that the first did as instead of Purashaj finding Boledovicova, it was Boledovicova taking a free ball and feeding it to Purashaj to dumped the second ball into the donut on the Falcons side for a kill to give the Bucs the set 25-13 to go ahead 2-0 in the match. The Bucs offense was unstoppable in the second as they racked up 16 kills and had just 1 error, hitting an even .500 while holding Daytona to just a .125 mark in the period.
For the third straight set, the teams traded points through the first 12 with neither side able to get an advantage. And also for the third consecutive period, a 4-1 run by FSW gave the Bucs the first real lead of the set as an Alarcon crosscourt rip made it 10-6 FSW ahead of a Daytona timeout. A well placed served from Gasparini kept it a four point game in favor of the Purple and Aqua at 18-14 and eight points later the spread remained the same at 22-18. Daytona squelched the Bucs first two shots at match point as they crept back to within two at 24-22, but the Purashaj/Boledovicova combo finished things off for the third straight set as FSW took it 25-22 to close out a 3-0 road sweep of the Falcons.
Zibecchi led a 45 kill FSW attack with a career high 15 while Alarcon chipped in 14 on the opposite pin. Purashaj led the Bucs with 35 assists while all six FSW servers had aces as the Bucs racked up 10 in total. Clara Maidantchik had an inspired 13 digs to lead the Bucs while Boledovicova was in on 3 of FSW's 5 blocks as a team in the victory.
The Bucs earn their 20th win in 20 chances this season while improving to 9-0 in Citrus Conference play where they have officially punched their ticket to the 2023 FCSAA State Tournament in Suncoast Arena in November. It is the Bucs 11th win of the season over a Top 20 ranked opponent. Daytona falls to 15-7 overall and 6-4 in conference action in the loss.
FSW continues a four game road stretch on Wednesday when they travel to Winter Haven to take on #15 Polk State, the only team to take a set from the Bucs so far this season.