Posted: Nov 22, 2024
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.- For the third straight season, the #1 Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers will play for the NJCAA National Championship after defeating the #10 Colby Trojans 3-0 in Friday's semifinal round to punch their ticket to the title game where they will square off with a familiar foe, the #2 Miami Dade Sharks in a rematch of both the 2022 and 2023 National Championship games won by the Bucs.
The Bucs, coming off of a tough five set win in their quarterfinal match, came out a little bit slow on Friday, while Colby, coming off of a quick three set sweep in theirs, found themselves even with FSW after 16 points with the score tied 8-8 in the first. A pair of kills from Abby Toeniskoetter and an ace from Camilla Brandalise gave the Bucs their first multi-point lead of the match and moments later, another Toeniskoetter blast put FSW in front 15-10. Colby cut the Bucs lead to three at 19-16 before a 5-0 run put them on the doorstep of a first set victory at 24-16. Just when it looked like the Bucs were going to walk to a 1-0 lead, a sideout by Colby gave the Trojans the ball back and they rolled off six straight points to get right back in the set at 24-22. With the set on the line, the Bucs went to their hot hand in Toeniskoetter who finished the period off with a bang, hammering her sixth kill of the set to the ground to seal it for FSW 25-22 to go up 1-0 in the match.
It was another slow start for the Bucs in the second as they fell behind 8-5 to begin the period. Giovanna Rocha cut one down the line for a kill to get the ball back on the FSW side and back to back aces from Magi Milicevic leveled the score at 8. Colby retook the lead at 12-10, but again a Rocha kill spurred an FSW run as four points later, instead of the Trojans by two, it was the Bucs by two, 14-12 midway through the set. The Bucs went on another run moments later, rolling off five in a row with Julija Grubisic Cabo at the service line to balloon their lead to 19-13 as they looked to go up 2-0 in the match. An ace from Brandalise gave FSW a 24-16 lead for the second straight set and after Colby fought off a pair of set points, the Trojans did themselves in with a service error to give the Bucs the second 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead in the contest.
Smelling blood in the water, the Bucs got off to their best start of the night in the third, taking an early 6-3 lead before pushing it to 11-6 at the midway point of the period. Toeniskoetter and Rocha smashed balls to the hardwood to extend the Bucs lead to 16-9 and Valentina Zevallos picked up a kill off the FSW bench to make it 19-11 as the Bucs started to see the finish line. The Bucs and Trojans traded 3-0 runs to make it 22-14 and Colby made some noise late to make things interesting, but FSW finished off a long rally with a kill from Rocha to close things out as the Bucs took the third 25-19 to win the match 3-0.
Grubisic Cabo led the Bucs with 11 kills and a .370 hitting percentage in the win while Toeniskoetter went for 7 kills and 5 blocks, contributing on both sides of the net. Irina Makinen notched her first career double-double with 15 assists and 10 digs while Brandalise had a team high 17 assists and 3 aces.
FSW wins their 13th straight National Tournament game to improve to 25-1 on the year while Colby sees the clock strike midnight on their Cinderella run as they fall to 28-5.
The Bucs march on where they will play for their third straight NJCAA National Championship on Saturday and will be opposed by a familiar foe in the #2 Miami Dade Sharks for the third straight season in the title game. The game will begin at 8 PM (ET) and will be carried live on ESPN+.
