DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Coming off of a career high 15 kill performance in a win over #2 Miami Dade on Wednesday, Florida SouthWestern freshman Letizia Okonofua stepped up big for the top ranked Buccaneers once again on Saturday, hammering home 22 kills for the Bucs as they outlasted #18 Daytona State on the road 3-2 to wrap up the first round of Citrus Conference play a perfect 6-0. 

 

For the second straight match, the Bucs struggled to get the ball past the opponents block early on Saturday as Daytona recorded four stuffs in the first 12 points of the contest to get out to an 8-4 lead in the first. The Bucs continued to struggle, watching their deficit grow to double digits at 17-7. Letizia Okonofua tried her best to keep FSW in it with six first set kills, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons finished off a 25-17 win to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The hitting lines for the two teams couldn't have been a more stark difference in the first as FSW committed nine hitting errors and hit just .139 as a team while Daytona didn't commit a single error and hit .414 collectively. 

 

The Bucs regrouped between sets and came out much stronger in the second, taking a 7-5 lead on a kill by Aleksandra Lucic and padding it to 15-11  midway through the set on an ace from Irina Makinen. The Bucs took their largest lead of the set at 21-14 before Daytona made things close late, but FSW cashed in their third set point opportunity with a kill from Giovanna Rocha to take the set 25-22 and even the match at a set a piece at the intermission. 

 

Back to back aces from Makinen on rotation errors by the Falcons allowed FSW to jump out to an early lead in the third and they held the advantage to 10-8 later in the period. A 4-0 run for Daytona put the Falcons in front for the first time, but the Bucs answered with a 5-0 run of their own moments later to retake a 16-14 lead of their own. Lucic picked up a kill on the outside and Rocha dialed up a pair of aces to give the Bucs set point at 24-18. Daytona made things interesting with three straight to close to within three, but Makinen found Lucic to put it in the books as the Bucs won the third 25-21 to go ahead 2-1 in the match. 

 

The Bucs and Falcons played even through the first 10 points of the fourth, but a 6-1 run for Daytona midway through the set gave the Falcons a 15-8 lead. A kill from Bethyna Kayser kept the Bucs in it, but another push by the Falcons padded the lead to 20-12 and they went on to take the set 25-16 to force a deciding fifth set. 

 

The Bucs start was much better in the fifth when they needed it the most, scoring six straight after splitting the first four to get out to an 8-2 advantage at the changeover. Makinen continued to feed Okonofua to get the Bucs to 10 first and Rocha's third ace of the afternoon gave FSW six cracks at match point, leading 14-8. Daytona fought off the Bucs first two chances, but the third went the way of the Purple and Aqua as Kayser finished out of the middle for the winner as FSW took the fifth 15-10 to seal the match 3-2. 

 

Okonofua finished with a career high 22 kills for the Bucs while hitting .356 on the afternoon while Makinen becomes the first FSW setter in history with three straight 50 assist games as she finished with a career high 51 to lead the Bucs offensive attack. Rocha notched her first career double-double, collecting 14 kills and tying a career high with 14 digs in the win. 

 

The Bucs win their 13^th straight as they improve to 17-1 overall on the year while finishing the first round of Citrus Conference action a perfect 6-0. The win is FSW's third straight road victory over a Top 20 ranked opponent. Daytona State falls to 10-8 overall and 4-2 in league play where they sit in third place by themselves at the end of the first round. 

 

FSW will wrap up a four game road trip on Wednesday when they head up the coast to take on Hillsborough in a 6 PM first serve in Tampa.