The Indian River Pioneers were in the wrong place at the wrong time Thursday night as the #2 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers came out angry off of their first loss of the 2022 campaign, putting on a clinic in a 3-0 sweep to improve to 16-1 on the year.
The Bucs started on fire and never cooled down, jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the first to begin the match after back to back aces from Roberta Purashaj. They didn't slow down, upping their lead to 17-6 following a big block from Christina Pratcher and Barbara Koehler before four straight kills from Maria Cecilia pushed it to 21-12. A big swing from Alondra Alarcon gave the Bucs set point and Purashaj's third ace of the set finished it as FSW took the set 25-12 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
As they did in the first, FSW jumped out to another quick lead in the second, scoring the first five points of the period to take an early 5-0 advantage. They cushioned their lead as the set continued, making it 11-4 on a big swing from Barbara Koehler and they forged ahead, opening up a 20-9 lead when Kate Roth connected with Julia Lawrenz to make it an 11 point FSW advantage. Koehler and Pratcher combined for a pair of blocks to give the Bucs set point and Koehler banged her fourth kill of the set to the ground to seal up a 25-13 win for FSW to go up 2-0. The Bucs were nearly unstoppable in the second, hitting .520 as a team with 14 kills and just one error on 25 swings.
The Bucs faced their only deficit of the night at 1-0 in the third, but that didn't last long as they scored 9 of the next 11 points to go in front 9-3 and they never looked back. Arianna Rossi's ace kept the Bucs in front by six midway through the set at 13-7 and a Maiana Coelho to Alondra Alarcon hook up later on made it 19-11. The Bucs continued to come at the Pioneers from all different angles as kills from Victoria Zibecchi and Alarcon gave FSW a dozen cracks at match point, but they would need just two as Koehler finished off her 11th kill of the night to give the Bucs the set 25-14 and the match 3-0.
FSW put up their second best hitting percentage in a match in program history, connecting at .465 rate. Cecilia and Lawrenz were unstoppable, combining for 17 kills on 19 swings with Cecilia hitting .909 in the contest and Lawrenz .875. Koehler registered a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs while Purashaj led the Bucs with 26 assists and 4 aces. The Bucs block was locked in, registering 10 stuffs with Pratcher and Lawrenz each getting in on 5 and Koehler 4 on the outside.
The Bucs get back on the winning track, improving to 16-1 overall and 8-1 in Suncoast Conference play while Indian River falls to 5-16 overall and 1-9 in league action.
FSW is back in action in a big conference matchup on Saturday when they travel to Tampa to take on #13 Hillsborough in a 3 PM matinee start against the Hawks.
Original source can be found here.
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