Posted: Nov 15, 2023
HUTCHINSON, Kan.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers began their NJCAA National Tournament run in style on Wednesday, sweeping past the Cinderella Colby Trojans 3-0 to make their fourth consecutive appearance in the quarterfinal round.
The defending champion Buccaneers came out hot against the team making their first tournament appearance in nearly 50 years, taking an early 8-2 lead after back to back kills from Victoria Zibecchi and Sara Gasparini. The Bucs continued to push, opening up a 13-5 lead after the same combo recorded consecutive kills and FSW's cushion was padded to double digits at 21-11 when Izzy Collier and Alondra Alarcon combined on a stuff to put the Bucs up 10. Moments later Collier hammered one to the floor to give FSW set point and a ball handling error on the Trojans sealed Colby's fate as the Bucs took the first 25-14 to go up 1-0 in the match. The Bucs finished with 15 kills from seven different players in the set, hitting .316 as a team while holding Colby to a .021 mark.
It was another good start for the Bucs in the second as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead thanks in part to a four point stand at the service line from Alarcon. They upped their lead to 8-3 as Zibecchi dropped an ace in front of the Colby passers and midway through the set it was all Purple and Aqua as a huge stuff from Collier and Roberta Purashaj made it a 14-5 game. A late run by the Trojans made the final score more interesting, but the Bucs were never challenged as they took the second 25-18 to go ahead 2-0 in the match.
For the third straight set, the Bucs took the early advantage on the Trojans as Purashaj hooked up with Nina Boledovicova on the slide to give FSW a 5-2 lead to begin things. It was 12-10 FSW midway through the set when history was made as Bucs Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen pulled the green card out of her pocket for the first coach's challenge in program history. After the review, the Bucs leading lady was proven right and the Bucs won the point to take a three point lead. The Bucs went cold after the challenge and dropped the next four points including back to back attack errors to give Colby just their second lead of the night at 14-13. The Bucs didn't trail long as a block from Boledovicova and Gasparini tied the score and an ace from Zibecchi put them back on top 15-14. They never trailed again. With the finish line in site, the Bucs stepped on the gas one final time as a kill on the right side from Zibecchi made it 21-17 before an ace from Purashaj sealed it as FSW took the third 25-18 to sweep the match 3-0.
The Bucs finished the night hitting .258 as a team while holding Colby to just a .106 mark. Alarcon led the Bucs with 10 kills while Boledovicova finished with 6 without an error while posting a team high .600 hitting percentage. Purashaj dished out 29 assists for FSW while Gasparini, Boledovicova, and Collier each finished with 3 blocks. Anna Marzella notched a team high 15 digs in her National Tournament debut.
FSW sets a new program record with their 28th win of the year as they improve to 28-1 while Colby sees their nine game win streak come to an emphatic stop as they fall to 22-9.
The Bucs advance to the NJCAA National Tournament Quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season where they will square off with #10 Southern Idaho at 8 PM (ET) Thursday with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Bucs fans who want to catch the team in action tomorrow can go up to the hospitality room in Suncoast Arena at the conclusion of the FSW/Central Georgia Tech Men's Basketball game where the game will be shown on two large video projectiors.