September 6, 2025
Bucs Close Out Perfect Weekend With Pair of Sweeps
Florida SouthWestern Head Coach Cesar Benatti couldn't have drawn up a much better weekend for his team in their trip across the state to the Titan Classic in Melbourne as Saturday the 3rd ranked Bucs finished a clean sweep of the tournament with a pair of 3-0 victories over Jefferson and USC Lancaster to give FSW 12 set wins in 12 sets played in the event.
MELBOURNE, Fla.- Florida SouthWestern Head Coach Cesar Benatti couldn't have drawn up a much better weekend for his team in their trip across the state to the Titan Classic in Melbourne as Saturday the 3rd ranked Bucs finished a clean sweep of the tournament with a pair of 3-0 victories over Jefferson and USC Lancaster to give FSW 12 set wins in 12 sets played in the event.
The day got off to a perfect start for the Bucs in their first contest against Jefferson as FSW came out swinging with kills on each of the first four points of the match in route to taking an 8-0 lead to begin the first. A pair of service errors gave the Vikings their only two points through the first 14 as the Bucs raced out to a 12-2 advantage. A late 5-0 run by Jefferson made the final score closer than the set was but Brookelyn Savoya found Aleksandra Lucic in the middle for the winner on set point as FSW took the first 25-18 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
It was another good start for the Bucs in the second as back to back aces from Irina Makinen and then two kills from Giovanna Rocha gave FSW a 4-0 lead to begin the period. The Bucs held the four point lead to the middle of the set at 15-11 before three straight aces from Rocha opened their lead to 18-11. It was smooth sailing for the Bucs from there as Jefferson never threatened again with FSW going on to take the set 25-15 to go ahead 2-0 into the third.
The Bucs and Vikings traded points early in the third before a 4-0 run by FSW gave them some breathing room and a 9-4 lead. The next 10 points were played even as the Bucs continued to lead by five midway through the set at 14-9. Jefferson got as close as they had been all day moments later as a 4-1 run drew them to within two at 17-15, but a Valentina Zevallos kill and two more from Letizia Okonofua padded the lead back to five. The Bucs had five cracks at match point but only needed one as Patrycja Labucka put away an overpass to seal it as the Bucs won the third 25-20 to sweep the Vikings 3-0.
Jefferson had no answer for the Bucs multifaceted offense as FSW finished with 51 kills, hitting .415 on the morning. Lucic led the way with 11 kills on 14 swings, good for a .786 hitting mark while three other Bucs added 8 kills each. Makinen had 40 assists in the win while Sarah Webb led the defense with 16 digs.
In their final match of the weekend the Bucs took on the Lancers of USC Lancaster.
With some new faces in the Bucs lineup, it took a little while for them to get going, but a pair of aces from Bethyna Kayser and a pair of kills from Milicevic had FSW in front 13-10 at the midway point of the first. Lancaster hung around until late when a 4-0 Bucs run padded the lead to 21-14 and FSW did the same to close out the set as Milicevic, Rocha, and Kayser banged home kills to close things out and give the Bucs a 25-16 win in the first.
The second followed a similar script as the Bucs and Lancers went back and forth early before a mid-set run by FSW gave them some breathing room up 12-6. The Bucs got the ball back on a kill from Kiley Petras and Webb just about took it home from there, rolling off nine straight points at the service line to blow it open to a 22-8 game before FSW finished things off 25-13 to go ahead 2-0 in the match.
The third was never close as the Bucs got out to a 7-2 lead to begin the set and quickly turned that into a 14-4 advantage after back to back kills from Milicevic. Another big run from Webb at the service line that incuded a pair of aces made it 22-6 and Milicevic dialed up an ace of her own off the tape to bring the match to a close as FSW ran away with the third 25-8 to sweep the match 3-0.
The Bucs hit .352 in the win while holding to Lancaster to just 8 kills and a -.139 hitting mark. Savoya recorded a career high with 25 assists for the Bucs while Rocha and Milicevic put up matching stat lines with 11 kills and 1 error on 18 swings. Bianca Andrecut also tallied a career high with 11 digs while Kayser and Webb combined for 8 aces for FSW.
FSW wins all 12 sets on the weekend to close out non-conference play 11-1 and on a seven game winning streak.
The Bucs will now turn their attention to Citrus Conference action where they begin league play on Saturday at home when they host Hillsborough in a 2 PM matinee start from Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.