Posted: Nov 02, 2024
FORT MYERS, Fla.- For the third straight season, the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers and the Miami Dade Sharks met for the FCSAA State Championship Saturday afternoon in Fort Myers and also for the third straight season, the Bucs came out on top, sweeping the rival Sharks 3-0 in a spirited Suncoast Credit Union Arena to claim the title in front of their home fans.
It was a hard fought contest as expected early on between the top two teams in the NJCAA Division I ranks as #2 Miami Dade jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before #1 Florida SouthWestern answered with a 6-1 run to take a 6-4 lead to begin the first. The Bucs and Sharks went blow for blow over the next 20 points with neither team leading by more than two points until finding themselves deadlocked at 15 midway through the set. A big block by Magi Milicevic and Abby Toeniskoetter made it 19-17 FSW ahead of a Shark timeout, but Miami Dade rebounded quickly, knotting things back up at 21 on a kill out of the middle moments later. Back to back kills from Julija Grubisic Cabo put the Bucs back in front and kills from Giovanna Rocha and Grubisic Cabo finished things off as FSW outlasted the Sharks in the first 25-22 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
The second was tied 4-4 early on until back to back kills from Nina Boledovicova and two straight Miami Dade hitting errors quickly put FSW in front 8-4. The Bucs continued to control the pace, stretching their lead to six midway through the set at 12-6 as Irina Makinen found Patrycja Labucka for a cross court kill. The Bucs and Sharks traded runs to make it a 17-13 game when Miami Dade stepped on the gas with three straight kills and a pair of blocks to ease the FSW lead and take a 19-17 lead of their own. Grubisic Cabo and Milicevic picked up kills to tie the score up at 19 before a solo block in the middle from Boledovicova put the Bucs back in front 20-19. The Bucs got to the doorstep with a 23-21 lead, but back to back errors allowed the Sharks to tie the game at 23. The teams traded points to 24-24 when a key block from Rocha and Toeniskoetter put the Bucs back in front Camilla Brandalise found Boledovicova in the middle for a thunderous kill to finish it off as FSW fought off the comeback attempt for a 26-24 win to go ahead 2-0 in the match. It was an offensive set for both sides as Miami Dade finished with 14 kills and a .270 hitting percentage, but were upstaged by a 20 kill, .357 effort from the Bucs.
For the second straight set, FSW got out to a big early lead in the third, taking another 8-4 lead before a 3-1 run made it an 11-5 game midway through. Another Toeniskoetter/Rocha combo block kept the Bucs up six at 15-9 before Grubisic Cabo and Boledovicova cushioned the lead to 19-11 with big kills. Miami Dade never threatened again as Brandalise set up Rocha for a kill to push it to match point and then hooked up with Toeniskoetter in the middle for the winner as FSW took it 25-17 to complete the sweep.
The Bucs offense was almost unstoppable in the win as they tied an FCSAA State Tournament record with 52 kills in a three set match, hitting .359 in the process. Grubisic Cabo was named the Tournament MVP after leading all players with 15 kills in the win while also adding 9 digs and a season high 4 blocks. Toeniskoetter earned All-Tournament Team honors with a dominating performance in the middle, going for 11 kills and a .417 hitting percentage while also finding her way in on a team high 5 blocks in the win. Joining the two on the All-Tournament Team was Boledovicova who had 7 kills and 3 blocks while hitting .636 and Brandalise who dished out a match high 25 assists while also pulling up 8 digs. Rocha had a big game as well for FSW, finishing with 9 kills and 0 errors on 17 swings, good for a .529 hitting percentage.
FSW wins their 11th straight match, all via the sweep, to move to 21-1 on the year while Miami Dade falls to 20-2 with both losses coming to the Bucs.
It is the third straight FCSAA State Championship for the Bucs who join Miami Dade South and Miami Dade Wolfson as the only three programs in tournament history to win three straight titles.
The Bucs advance to the NJCAA Atlantic District Championships in Spartanburg, South Carolina where next Saturday, November 9th they will play one game with a ticket to the NJCAA National Tournament on the line.
