Posted: Nov 18, 2021
HUTCHINSON, Kan.- The #4 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers earned their first NJCAA National Tournament win in program history Thursday afternoon in Hutchinson, Kansas, defeating the #13 Monroe Mustangs 3-0 to advance to the tournament quarterfinals for the second straight season.
The first was a nip and tuck battle between the Bucs and Mustangs, which was the same matchup that FSW began their 2021 season with. The two teams were tied at 8 early on and continued to go back and forth to find themselves deadlocked at 15 midway through the set. Neither team took more than a two point lead until a kill by Barbara Koehler gave the Bucs a 24-22 advantage late in the period. The Bucs wasted no time in finishing the Mustangs off as Maria Petkova dropped in an ace on set point to close things out 25-22 and put the Bucs up 1-0.
The second was a different story as FSW jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back as the Bucs rolled off five straight with Deborah Ribeiro at the service line, including a pair of aces to take a quick 9-3 lead and ballooned their lead to double digits at 18-8 when Fiona Baker found Petkova on the outside for a kill. Monroe made a push to make things respectable late, but the Bucs finished them off with a kill from Julia Lawrenz to take the set 25-15 and go up 2-0 in the match.
Tied 4-4 in the third, a 3-0 run for the Bucs highlighted by a big block from Lawrenz and Maria Cecilia pushed FSW out in front 7-4. They continued to hold a three point cushion to the middle of the set when a 6-0 run all but put the game out of reach at 19-10. Once again, the Mustangs showed some fight to get back into the game late, but their hole was too large as a kill from Elissa Alcantara gave the Bucs four cracks at match point, but they only needed one as a Monroe attack wide was all she wrote as FSW took the set 25-21 and the match 3-0 for their first National Tournament win in program history.
The Bucs hit .269 in the win, spreading out 44 kills to seven different players. Koehler led the way with 10 for the Purple and Aqua while Petkova, Lawrenz, and Alcantara each had 8. Baker paced the Bucs with 21 assists in the win while Arianna Rossi led FSW with 17 digs and Yunju Lee posted a double-double with 14 assists and 13 digs.
FSW improves to 23-4 with the win while Monroe falls to 33-8.
The Bucs advance to the National Tournament quarterfinals for the second straight season where they will matchup with #5 Missouri State-West Plains in the round of eight at 8:30 EST Thursday night.
