September 5, 2025
Bucs Sweep #2 Weatherford to Wrap Perfect Day One in Melbourne
In the early season match of the year in the NJCAA Division I ranks, the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers dominated the #2 Weatherford Coyotes Friday afternoon in Melbourne, sweeping the 'Yotes 3-0 after a 3-0 win in their opener of the Titan Invitational against Andrew to improve to 9-1 on the year.
MELBOURNE, Fla.- In the early season match of the year in the NJCAA Division I ranks, the #3 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers dominated the #2 Weatherford Coyotes Friday afternoon in Melbourne, sweeping the 'Yotes 3-0 after a 3-0 win in their opener of the Titan Invitational against Andrew to improve to 9-1 on the year.
In their first match of the weekend, it was all Bucs, all day. FSW jumped out to quick 7-1 lead against Andrew and doubled that to 14-2 after a solo block from Aleksandra Lucic. Andrew didn't earn their first point of the set until 19-4 and the Bucs went on to win it in dominating fashion 25-5. The Bucs hit .722 in the set, finishing off 13 kills on 18 swings without a single error.
It was more of the same in the second as the Bucs scored five of the first six to start the set and quickly bumped their lead to 11-3 after three straight kills from Letizia Okonofua. The Tigers had their best run of the match from there, scoring four of the next five, but their luck was short lived as the Bucs regained control and quickly bumped their lead to double digits at 20-10 as Irina Makinen connected with Patrycja Labucka on the right side. FSW closed things out from there as Giovanna Rocha and Sara Gamboa smashed balls to the ground to give the Bucs the set 25-13 and put them up 2-0 in the match.
Rocha's serve terrorized the Tigers early in the third as three straight aces from the sophomore gave FSW an 8-3 lead to begin the set. A 9-0 run for the Bucs midway through the set with Magi Milicevic at the service line blew it open to a 17-6 FSW lead the Bucs put it in cruise control from there, finishing off a 25-11 win to sweep the match 3-0.
The Bucs hit a season high .472 in the win with 10 different players recording a kill. Milicevic led the way with 8 kills on 11 swings, hitting a career high .727. Makinen dished out a match high 18 assists while Brookelyn Savoya set a new career high with 13. Five different players had 2 or more aces for the Bucs who finished with 14 as a team in the victory.
The marquee matchup of the day came in the Bucs second game as they squared off with #2 Weatherford in a battle of NJCAA Top 5 ranked teams.
FSW got off to a good start, jumping out to a 9-4 lead in the first before the teams played even through the next 10 points to 14-9. An attack error by the Bucs got Weatherford to within four, but FSW rolled off five straight from there including back to back kills from Milicevic to stretch their lead to 19-10. Sarah Webb rolled off five in a row at the service line and Lucic picked up a solo block to seal it as the Bucs took the first 25-13 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
The second was competitive early on as the Bucs and Coyotes traded points through the first 20, but back to back errors by Weatherford allowed FSW to jump in front 12-10. The teams traded service errors before a 5-0 Buccaneer run gave them their largest lead of the set at 18-11 before a Coyote timeout. Another miscue at the line by Weatherford gave FSW a handful of cracks at set point, but they only needed one as Makinen hit Valentina Zevallos on a quick in the middle to finish things off as the Bucs won the second 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
With their backs to the wall Weatherford raced out to a 8-2 lead in the third, but slowly the Bucs worked their way back in, using a 4-0 run moments later to close to within a pair and then a 5-0 burst including three straight aces from Makinen midway through the set to take their first lead of the period at 17-12. Weatherford wasn't done yet though, cutting the Bucs lead to just one at 19-18 after a block on the outside, but three straight FSW kills padded their lead back to four and two more kills and an ace got them to the finish line as the Bucs won the third 25-19 to complete the 3-0 sweep of the 'Yotes.
The Bucs finished with 44 kills as a team with Milicevic and Gamboa combining for 24 to lead the way. Makinen filled the stat sheet with 36 assists, 9 digs, 3 aces, and 3 blocks for FSW. Webb led the back line with 17 digs and also added a career high 5 assists.
The Bucs improve to 9-1 on the year with the victories and now have three wins over Top 10 ranked opponents in their first 10 games of the year.
The Bucs are back in action on Saturday with two more contests against Jefferson out of Missouri and USC Lancaster from South Carolina beginning at 11:30 AM.