The Florida Southwestern State volleyball team came into the 2024 season with a goal to make history.
Coming off two consecutive state championships, the Buccaneers could become the first team in NJCAA Division I to win three consecutive titles if they completed the three-peat.
The team followed through, putting together a 26-1 record and sweeping Miami Dade College in the championship match. The Buccaneers lost just seven sets all season.
FSW honored the team with a ring ceremony at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on Wednesday. A banner in arena was unfurled alongside the ones honoring the team’s prior titles.
“Three years in a row, hard to imagine,” FSW President Jeffrey Allbritten said.
What made this group special was the contributions from every player on the roster.
“At some point, every single one of the players was very impactful, and that’s why this team was very important,” head coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen said
Julija Grubisic Cabo, who signed to play at FGCU next season, was named NJCAA Tournament MVP and NJCAA Division I Player of the Year last season.
Baziquetto-Allen thanked the administration, the fans and her staff during her speech.
“Most of all, I want to thank my players,” she said. “They did everything we asked of them. We asked them to be good students, good players, good people and just come in and buy into the goal.”
The ring design featured elements from the previous two championship rings, combining the silver of the first set of rings and gold from the second.
“I love it,” Baziquetto-Allen said. “It’s just amazing.”
Baziquetto-Allen was hired to lead the FGCU women’s volleyball program, replacing Matt Botsford as head coach in January.
Returning to FSW, Baziquetto-Allen reminisced about getting hired to build the program from scratch. Coming back to Suncoast and celebrating a historic three-peat with the team was a fitting conclusion to this chapter for her.
“It feels so familiar and so amazing, just the love for this place and from this place,” she said. “It just feels like I never left.
“From that first day that I started work that I came into the office with no program to end with a third national championship – just creating that historic and that legacy, it really ends well.”
2024 FSW Volleyball Championship Roster
Sofia Augusto
Nina Boledovicova
Camilla Brandalise
Nele Broszat
Sara Gasparini
Julija Grubisic Cabo (National Tournament MVP)
Patrycja Labucka
Clara Maidantchik
Irina Makinen
Anna Marzella
Magi Milicevic
Giovanna Rocha
Abby Toeniskoetter
Sarah Webb
Valentina Zevallos
Head Coach: Thais Baziquetto-Allen
Assistant Coach: Luis Rodriguez
Team Manager: Tarissa McClay
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: FSW Volleyball: Team celebrates third national title with ring ceremony