SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The top ranked Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers punched their ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament for the fifth consecutive season Saturday afternoon in Spartanburg, South Carolina, exterminating the USC Sumter Fire Ants 3-0 in the NJCAA Atlantic District Championship in their first step in defending their back to back NJCAA National Championships. 

 

It was all FSW early on in the first as the Region 10 runners-up had no answers for the potent Buccaneer attack that got the Purple and Aqua out to a 9-3 lead to begin the contest. Back to back kills out of the middle for FSW by Nina Boledovicova and Abby Toeniskoetter stretched the Bucs lead to 14-5 midway through the set and they were the first to 20 as Giovanna Rocha scored on an out of system set to make it 20-8. Camilla Brandalise got tricky for a second ball kill from her setter position to push the Bucs to set point and Toeniskoetter put it away with a kill as FSW took the first 25-11 to go up 1-0 in the match. FSW finished the set with 16 kills and just 2 errors, good for a .583 hitting percentage as a team. 

 

It was more of the same in the second as a smothering FSW front line kept the Fire Ants from getting anything going and when the Bucs got the ball on their side, it was lights out for Sumter. Sofia Augusto picked up back to back kills to highlight an early 8-1 start for the Bucs and they parlayed that into a 15-3 advantage midway through the set. The Fire Ants were not able to string consecutive points together at any point in time during the set as Irina Makinen connected with Patrycja Labucka for a kill to give the Bucs set point and an ace from Magi Milicevic ended it as the Bucs won the second 25-6 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. It was another efficient set for the Bucs offensively as they notched 9 kills and had just 1 error in 16 swings to hit an even .500. 

 

The Bucs continued to mix and match their lineup in the third and the Fire Ants actually had some success early on until back to back kills from Valentina Zevallos staked FSW ahead 6-3. After an FSW service error, it was the Milicevic/Zevallos show as the two combined for a pair of blocks and three kills in a 6-0 FSW run to blow the lead open to 12-4 at the midway point of the set. A Milicivec ace put the Bucs up 10 at 17-7 and FSW ran off the final five points of the contest, getting a kill from Zevallos to put the exclamation point on it as the Bucs won the third 25-12 to sweep the match 3-0. 

 

FSW was unstoppable offensively, hitting .480 in the match with 10 different players registering kills.  The Bucs middles were electric, as Abby Toeniskoetter, Nina Boledovicova, Nele Broszat, and Valentina Zevallos combined for 17 kills and 0 errors, hitting .680 as a group. Augusto led the Bucs in both kills with 8 and digs with 11 in the win while Makinen finished with a match high 19 assists for FSW. 

 

The Bucs win their 12^th straight match via sweep to push their record to 22-1 on the year while USC Sumter sees their campaign come to a close at 17-9. 

 

FSW advances to the NJCAA National Tournament for the fifth consecutive season with the win where they will look to defend their back to back National Championships from the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Bucs are expected to draw the top seed for the tournament and will find out their first round matchup on Wednesday during the NJCAA Selection Show.  Play in Clarksville, Tennessee will begin on November 20^th with the final day of action on November 23rd.