MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – Barry University's volleyball team enters its biggest weekend since the 2010 season with a pair of home league and South Region matches against Florida Tech and Lynn, Friday and Saturday.
The Buccaneers (15-8, 5-5 Sunshine State Conference) host Tech (10-12, 3-7 SSC) at 7 p.m. Friday in the Health & Sports Center. The game will air on the Buccaneers Broadcast Network with Danny Rabinowitz and Jim Cox handling the call. Saturday’s match will also air on the Buccaneers Broadcast Network with Jim Cox and Barry University School of Human Performance & Leisure Science Dean Dr. Darlene Kluka calling the action.
“It’s pretty much a must-win weekend with both matches,” Barry fourth-year coach Steve Hendricks said. “Lynn is kind of a huge rival with us, and we weren’t happy with how we played and the result when we went up there. So our kids are pretty motivated.”
Barry’s last trip to the NCAA Tournament came in 2010, a year before Hendricks took over when the Bucs lost to Lynn in five sets of the first round of the South Regional in Tampa. A pair of wins this weekend would match Hendricks’ career-best as a head coach. The Bucs won 17 matches in Hendricks’ second season in 2012.
The top eight teams in each of the country's eight regions qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In 2012, Barry was a narrow miss for the NCAA Tournament.
“The last couple weeks, our kids have been really going hard, and they’re really buying in to what we’re doing,” Hendricks said. “I think we’re in the best shape of our season, we’re playing at the top of our game, and we’re going to keep training hard. And the players understand we’ve got to win these to make the NCAA Tournament.”