DAVIE, Fla. -- Barry's volleyball team needed this one. The Buccaneers delivered in timely fashion.
Barry beat West Alabama Saturday in the final day of the South Region Crossover, 25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20 at Nova Southeastern. The Buccaneers improved to 11-10, but more importantly collected another region win that helps in determing postseason possibilities.
Barry took a 17-14 lead in the first set when Jasmine Serna fired an ace, but West Alabama retalliated, knotting the match at 17-17. With Alicia Guerrero serving, Tania Torres tied the match at 20-20 with a kill. Laine Cielena and Tasha Begon's combo block put the Bucs ahead, 22-21.
Begon polished off the opening set with back-to-back kills, the first of which forced a sideout.
Barry had 14 kills and hit .250 in the first set. West Alabama (10-13) had an .094 attack rate in the first set.
The Tigers battled point for point with the Buccaneers in the second set, needing consecutive kills from Chanel Davis and another by Carly Wehling to respond from a 21-20 deficit to take a two-point lead. Barry's Mima Hajdukovic threw down a point at the net following Jeni Hiapo's pass to pull the Bucs within 23-22, but the Tigers tied the match at 1-1 after Davis put away two of the final three points, in between a West Alabama hitting error.
Barry ran to a 9-5 lead in the third set, and extended it to 19-11 on Torres and Hajdukovic's block on Wehling. Mariana Lisboa ripped off an ace with her dynamite jump serve to give the Bucs a nine-point lead, and the Tigers couldn't recover.
The Buccaneers converted 13 of 16 sideout chances for an 81 percent rate in the third set.
Barry blitzed West Alabama with a 15-4 start in the fourth set, reaching that point in the match on Cielena's kill. The Tigers responded from Mariana Ruiz's ace that put the Bucs ahead 21-9 with 10 of the next 11 points to draw within three, but Barry closed out the match to go 1-1 in the weekend format against a pair of Alabama schools.
Begon had a team-high 12 kills, and hit .346 with two blocks. Hajdukovic had eight kills, 30 assists, six blocks, two aces and 11 digs, while hitting .400. Torres had eight kills and four blocks.
Barry outblocked West Alabama, 14-1, including six by Cielena.
Barry will return home to host Florida Southern and Saint Leo in a pair of Sunshine State Conference matches Friday and Saturday in Miami Shores.