MIAMI SHORES, FL. – The Barry Buccaneers (11-0, 3-0 SSC) continue to prove that they belong among the best in the Sunshine State Conference. If the Bucs continue to play at this level, many others across the country will start to take notice as well. The Buccaneers defeated another SSC opponent on Friday night in front of a lively crowd at the Health and Sports Center. Barry took down the Saint Leo University Lions (5-6, 2-1) in straight sets. It was the Bucs first victory against Saint Leo since Nov. 12, 2016 in Miami Shores. The Lions are coming off a strong campaign in 2017 when they finished 23-7 and 16-4 in the SSC. This past week, the Lions garnered two of the three SSC weekly awards as sophomore outside hitter Ashley Quero was named Offensive Player of the Week and freshman setter Cassandra Kamien took home Setter of the Week honors.

Buccaneer head coach Steve Hendricks is leaning on his team's upperclassmen through this incredible start to the season. "I have a lot of mature players on the team," Hendricks said. "They have been around the block and they understand that the mentally has to be match-by-match and point-by-point. This conference is really tough, and to be able to beat Saint Leo at home 3-0 is fantastic."

Bucs junior outside hitter Megi Buvinic finished the night with a double-double for the third time in her last four games. The Croatian native tallied 15 kills and 12 digs and is pleased with the mental approach that her team brings into every game, every night. "We're just playing our game right now, despite having four players out due to injury," Buvinic said. "We don't really care who we are playing, we just focus on what we can control. Even though we got off to a slow start tonight, we just shook that off and kept playing. Even when we make a mistake, we focus on getting the next point so that we don't allow ourselves to make two mistakes in a row." Buvinic also credited the work of the Buccaneer coaching staff so far this season. "Our coaching staff is doing an amazing job," Buvinic added. "We have a scouting report before every game which allows us to stay focused on that opponent that day. We know exactly where they're going to play and where each player likes to hit the ball on the court. That has led to our success so far for sure."

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Game One Final: Barry 3, Saint Leo 0
Records: Barry (11-0, 3-0 SSC), Saint Leo (5-6, 2-1 SSC)
All-Time Series: Barry is 46-16 against Saint Leo

SUMMARY:

• 1st set | Things were all tied up at nine a piece until junior middle-blocker Kristina Filimonova smacked a ball straight into the ground to give the Bucs the lead for good in the first set. Filimonova would go on and rack up seven kills in the set on 11 attempts and tack on four digs. 
• 2nd set | After taking the Lions best shot early in the set, Barry went on a 4-0 run behind the service game of junior Maegan Cuesta to take the lead 9-7. While Barry seemed to have built the momentum needed to run away with the set, the Lions would not go down without a fight. The Bucs dynamic duo on offense of Megi Buvinic and Kristina Filimonova managed to reach double-digit kills in the match by the end of the set, respectively. 
• 3rd set | Barry was able to force their will on the Lions and put them away for good, holding seven and eight points leads throughout the set. The Bucs were 16-2-36 with a .389 hitting percentage.

NOTEWORTHY:.

• Senior Johanna Voss set a single-game season-high with five kills. 
• Filimonova and Buvinic each have 110 kills in 11 games this season.
• Barry held Saint Leo to a .160 hitting percentage. The Bucs are top-10 in the country in opponent hitting percentage (.079)

ON THE HORIZON:

The Buccaneers are back home tomorrow afternoon Saturday, September 15th against the 2017 national runner-up, Florida Southern University. The match is set for 4:00 pm at the Health & Sports Center in Miami Shores.