MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – The Barry University women's volleyball team kicks off their season Friday, August 24 at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in Aiken, South Carolina.

The Buccaneers were picked to finish eighth in the Sunshine State Conference by the league coaches. The Bucs will take on Southern Wesleyan University on Friday 2 p.m. and Johnson C. Smith at 4:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday, Barry faces Lander University at 10 a.m. and USC-Aiken at 1:30 p.m. Three-of-the-four-matches will be live-streamed on the Pacer Athletic network, with the Lander match being the only one not being aired. All four matches will have live stats available. 

Barry went 10-15 last year, finishing eighth in the league at 6-14. Southern Wesleyan was 20-15 last year. Johnson C. Smith finished 15-9. Lander went 15-12 and USC finished 25-6, advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

"We would like to finish in the top three within the SSC."  Buccaneers head coach Steve Hendricks said. "If we finish in the top three or four, we have a great chance to make the NCAA tournament, which is our ultimate goal."

The Bucs return nine players from last year's roster in 2017. Among the returners, Kristina Filimonova of Moscow, Russia, led the Buccaneers with 263 kills and 104 blocks. Filimonova, a junior, was named to the 2017 First Team All-Sunshine State Conference team. It was the second straight season she had 104 blocks after becoming the SSC Freshman of the Year in 2016. The Bucs 2017 team MVP, Kishara Gordon, was second in blocks (64) and third in kills (174) on the team. The Bucs also return their setter, Juliana Tirabassi, after leading the team in assists with 594 assists in 25 matches during her sophomore year.

Among the newcomers, there are two junior transfers and two incoming freshman. Audren Corrêa is from Duque de Caxias, Brazil and Megi Buviníc was born in Umag, Croatia. The two upperclassmen played at the junior college level in 2017, with Corrêa transferring from Broward College and Buviníc from San Jacinto College. Both are expected to contribute right away. "Megi is a great outside-hitter that has great ball control." said Hendricks. "Audren is a very polished libero who can play any position on the court."

"We have two freshman coming in." Hendricks said. "Bianca Paşca is a setter who has the height and great hands. Tierney Ward is out of Chicago [Darien, Illinois], who is a good ball control outside-hitter that can really hammer the ball."  

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