BOCA RATON, Fla. -- In another rigorous five-set match at the NCAA Division II South Region Volleyball Tournament, the third-seeded Barry Buccaneers fell 3-2 to the fifth-seeded Saint Leo Lions on Saturday in the de Hoernle Center.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Saint Leo 3, Barry 2 (25-27, 25-22, 27-29, 25-19, 15-10
Records: Home (record), Away (record)
All-Time Series: School leads xx-xx-x
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
SUMMARY:
- 1st Set - Barry 27, Saint Leo 25 - The tone was set from the first set, as both teams made runs and built leads only to see the other team respond. Barry led 17-13 after a kill by Kristina Filimonova, but the Lions rolled off five straight points to take an 18-17 lead. Tied 23-23, Skylar Singleton gave the Lions a set point with a service ace. But Barry fought it off with a kill by Kishara Gordon. Filimonova followed with two kills and a service ace in the next four points to give Barry the set.
- 2nd Set - Saint Leo 25, Barry 22 - The second set was more of the same. After battling back and forth, the Bucs led 20-19 after a kill by Anatasiia Samokhvalova. But, after a time out, Saint Leo scored six of the next eight points to even the match. In the first set, the Lions had three more kills than the Bucs, but committed six more errors. In the set set those number flopped back to the Lions.
- 3rd Set - Barry 29, Saint Leo 27 - Set three was the most grueling of the match. The Lions led 24-22 after a kill by Anilise Fritzi, but kills by Gordon and Gabriella Jansen knotted the set back up at 24-24. The team traded points until the Lions got another set point at 27-26 after a block. But Megi Buvinic came up with the big kill to tie it and Nina Vattovaz had back-to-back attack errors to give the set to the Bucs.
- 4th Set - Saint Leo 25, Barry 19 - But the long match after last night's five-set marathon with Tampa began to take its toll on the Bucs. Saint Leo led 20-13, but Barry battled back to within four at 22-18 on a big solo block from Samokhvalova. But the Lions scored three of the last four points to force the deciding set.
- 5th Set - Saint Leo 15, Barry 10 - With the Lions leading 8-7, they turned up the pressure scoring seven of the last 10 points, including three kills by Michelle Cuervo.
NOTEWORTHY:
- Buvinic posted another double-double, topping 20 in both kills and digs with 20 kills and 25 digs.
- Filimonova added 15 kills and 12 digs.
- Samokhvalova and Gordon each had 10 kills and Samokhvalova added nine blocks.
- Audren Rose broker her own school record (689, set last year) with 34 digs in the match, making her the first Buccaneer to top 700 digs in a season with 709. She owns the two highest season dig totals in program history.
- Bianca Paşca had 50 assists, 10 digs and five blocks.
- Vattovaz led the Lions with 15 kills, while Fritzi and Victoria Omoregie each had 13.
ON THE HORIZON:
The Bucs end the season in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. They will now set their sights on 2020.
