Posted: Sep 21, 2024
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers bounced back from their first loss in nearly 11 months with a 3-0 sweep of the visiting Santa Fe Saints Saturday afternoon at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers. FSW dialed up a 43 kill attack against the Saints with 11 different players recording a kill in the victory.
In her first game since a record breaking 21 kill performance Tuesday against Miami Dade, Abby Toeniskoetter didn't skip a beat in the three day layoff before Saturday's battle with Santa Fe as she recorded three kills in the first four points of the contest to help FSW jump out to an early 4-1 lead on the Saints. Santa Fe came back to tie things up with three straight, but the Bucs answered with a 5-0 run of their own to retake a 10-5 lead after a kill from Giovanna Rocha on the right side. Nina Boledovicova put away a Santa Fe overpass to cushion the Bucs lead to 17-10 later in the set before setter Irina Makinen finished off the first with a second ball kill to seal it for FSW 25-19 to put them ahead 1-0 in the match.
The second was all FSW from the jump as the Bucs got a kill from Magi Milicevic and two more from Nele Broszat to get out to a 3-0 lead before five straight moments later opened their lead to 10-3. A big block from Boledovicova and Camilla Brandalise stretched the lead to double digits at 15-5 and a 6-0 run for FSW with Milicevic at the service line ballooned the lead to 21-6 late in the set. Santa Fe tried to squeak into double digits, but it wasn't to be in this set as an ace from Clara Maidantchik pushed it to set point for the Bucs and a kill from Julija Grubisic Cabo closed it out as FSW took the set 25-9 to go up 2-0 at the intermission. FSW dominated on the scoreboard and on the stat sheet in the second, hitting .481 as a team while holding Santa Fe to a -.032 mark with just four kills and five errors.
For the third straight set, the Bucs were the aggressors in the third early on as they jumped out to a 6-3 lead after a kill from Patrycja Labucka and a solo block from Broszat in the middle. Sofia Augusto found a hole in the Santa Fe defense to make it 13-8 Bucs midway through the set and another kill from the lefty extended the lead to six late in the period at 20-14. The Saints cut the lead in half to 21-18, but it was too little, too late as Brandalise connected with Valentina Zevallos for the winner as the Bucs took the third 25-20 to finish off a 3-0 sweep.
The Bucs finished the match with 43 kills from 11 different players while hitting .333 on the afternoon. Labucka led the way with a career high 10 kills on 16 swings while Boledovicova and Milicevic each had 6 kills and just one error in the win. Brandalise dished out a match high 22 assists while Makinen finished with 14. Maidantchik had a team high 10 digs for the Bucs while Boledovicova was in on 3 of the Bucs 7 blocks on the afternoon to lead them in that category.
FSW moves to 11-1 overall and 3-1 in Citrus Conference play with the victory while Santa Fe falls to 7-6 overall and 0-3 in league action. The Bucs improve to 7-0 all time against the Saints.
The Bucs will be back home Wednesday when they host Daytona State in another Top 20 matchup beginning at 6 PM at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.
