Posted: Sep 01, 2024
CHEYENNE, Wyo.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers moved to 8-0 on the season Saturday afternoon in the Springhill Suites Cheynne Invitational, defeating a pesky Laramie County team 3-1 in their first match of the day before sweeping past #16 Casper 3-0 to claim the tournament title.
Playing in front of a spirited road crowd, the Bucs had trouble getting anything going early on against Laramie County, finding themselves tied at 10 with the Golden Eagles at the 20 point mark. With Clara Maidantchik at the service line the Bucs went on a 6-0 run to erase a 13-11 Laramie County lead and take a 17-13 lead of their own. The Golden Eagles pulled back to within one at 18-17 before the Bucs put it away with a 4-0 run highlighted by a pair of kills from Julija Grubisic Cabo and a solo block from Nele Broszat to make it 22-17. They went on to take the set 25-19 to go up 1-0 in the match.
The Bucs couldn't carry the momentum over into the second as again they found themselves deadlocked at 10 at the 20 point mark. The Bucs and Golden Eagles traded points to 20-20 when Laramie took over, scoring five of the final six points of the period to close the Bucs out and take the set 25-21 to even the match at a set a piece.
The Golden Eagles found out what happens when you poke the bear in the third as an angry FSW squad came out with their hair on fire, scoring the first six points and 10 of the first 11 to jump out to a 10-1 lead to start the set. The Bucs never looked back from there, taking a 10 point lead at 19-9 on back to back blocks from Abby Toeniskoetter before taking the set 25-14 on a Camilla Brandalise to Nele Broszat hookup to give FSW a 2-1 lead in the match.
Just when it looked like the Bucs had turned the corner, it was another dogfight in the fourth for FSW against the Golden Eagles. Laramie led 10-9 before the Bucs went on a 6-0 run highlighted by an ace from Grubisic Cabo and not one, but two Valentina Zevallos/Giovanna Rocha blocks to make it 15-10 FSW. Laramie cut the Bucs lead to three at 18-15, but that was as close as they would get as the Bucs scored the final three points of the set to win it 25-17 and give FSW the match 3-1.
Brandalise orchestrated a 57 kill Buccaneer attack with 53 assists in the victory. Her 53 assists were the second most in a four set match in program history next to only Roberta Purashaj's 60 against Trinity Valley in 2022. Five different Bucs had 7 or more kills led by Grubisic Cabo who dialed up her fourth double-double in five games with 13 kills and 15 digs. Anna Marzella led the Bucs back line with 20 digs while Toeniskoetter had a team best 5 blocks.
In their final matchup of the weekend, the Bucs squared off with #16 Casper.
FSW jumped on the Thunderbirds right away, getting out to an 8-2 lead in the first after kills from four different players in the first 10 points of action. Sofia Augusto made it 11-4 with a kill on the outside and Toeniskoetter crushed one to the hardwood to make it 19-9 FSW moments later. The Bucs closed out the set in style as Grubisic Cabo and Nina Boledovicova combined on a stuff to give the Bucs the set 25-12 to go up 1-0 in the match.
It was close between the Bucs and Thunderbirds at the start of the second with FSW holding just an 11-9 lead after an ace from Sarah Webb. That all changed when Giovanna Rocha got back to the service line two points later though as the freshman rolled off five points in a row to open up an 18-9 lead before finishing it off 25-14 on a Toeniskoetter kill to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Rocha started the third hot for the Bucs, picking up three early kills to put FSW in front 8-2 at the 10 point mark. Casper used a 5-1 run of their own to get back into things at 9-7 before Irina Makinen connected with Patrycja Labucka to get the ball back on the Bucs side. With Grubisic Cabo at the service line, the Bucs scored 12 straight points including three kills from Augusto to blow the lead open to 22-7 late in the set. Casper found a little bit late, but it was too little, too late as the Bucs closed them out with a 25-12 win to complete the sweep and move to 8-0 on the year.
The Bucs finished with 39 kills and a .321 hitting percentage while Casper managed just 19 and a -.061 mark. Rocha was the offensive star with 10 kills on 14 swings, good for a .643 hitting percentage. Boledovicova was the defensive star of the game for the Bucs, registering 7 total blocks including a pair of solo stuffs.
The Bucs move to 8-0 on the season and now have six wins over Top 20 ranked opponents in just two weekends of action.
FSW will now get a much needed rest, not taking the court again until September 11th when they open Citrus Conference action with a date on the road at Hillsborough.