WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Buccaneers have advanced to the next round of the 'big dance' after coming back to defeat the University of West Alabama 3-1 Thursday afternoon during the NCAA DII Tournament. Barry beat the Tigers 23-25, 25-10, 25-20, 25-20 inside Rubin Arena on the campus of Palm Beach Atlantic University.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: No. 18 Barry 3, West Alabama 1
Records: Barry 29-3, UWA 22-10
All-Time Series: Barry is 7-1 against UWA

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"I thought we were nervous with it being our first time in this tournament," Bucs coach Steve Hendricks said. The Buccaneers dropped the first set 23-25 and could not get any sort of run going with West Alabama finishing the set with a side-out percentage of 81%. After that first set, the Buccaneers never looked back taking the next three sets. "We talked about being prepared. We felt we were the better team, however - West Alabama is talented and they had nothing to lose," Hendricks said. 

Megi Buvinic finished with 16 digs and a .273 attack percentage. "I felt great," Buvinic said. "At the beginning we were all nervous, but I think we did a great job of siding-out later. With the win, Barry advances to the next round and will take on No. 11 Tampa tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm. Barry and Tampa were named Co-Sunshine State Conference Regular Season Champions after splitting the season series and will now go head-to-head for the third and final time. "It's going to be a great battle," Hendricks said. "They're very well trained, they're athletic and they're a good team. I can't wait to play tomorrow night. It's going to be fun." 

SUMMARY:

• 1st set | L 23-25 | Despite five service errors from the Tigers of UWA, the Buccaneers were unable to take the first frame. UWA finished with a 81.1 side-out percentage. 
• .2nd set | W 25-10 | Barry ran away with this set by out-hitting the Tigers .441 to .148. Buvinic led the way for the Buccaneers offensively with six kills. 
• 3rd set | W 25-20 | The Buccaneers started to pair up their defense with their solid play on offense. Kristina Filimonova and Audren Rose each had six digs for the Bucs. 
• 4th set | W 25-20 | The attack and serve errors were too much for the Tigers to force a five set. UWA had eight attack errors in the set and 24 on the afternoon. Despite only recording a single serve error in the final set, UWA finished with 12 for the match.

• Kishara Gordon finished with seven blocks against the Tigers, that is the most this season since October 13 at Saint Leo for the junior from Canada. 
• Filimonova recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 12 kills and 13 digs against UWA. Bianca Paşca also punched in a double-double with 45 assists and 10 digs, also her 10th of the season.
• The Buccaneers were one kill shy of having four players with double-figure kills - Buvinic (16), Filimonova (12), Gordon (11) and Anastasiia Samokhvalova (9).

The Buccaneers will face No. 11 Tampa tomorrow afternoon in the next round of the NCAA Tournament. First serve is set for 5:00 pm.