FORT MYERS, Fla.- We continue our countdown of the Top 10 FSW Athletics Moments of the 2020-2021 year today with our #4 moment; Bucs Volleyball Qualifies For First National Tournament.
The goals for the 2020-2021 Florida SouthWestern State Volleyball team were simple; 1. Win a Suncoast Conference Championship, which they did in undefeated fashion (also our #8 moment on the countdown). 2. Win an FCSAA State Championship, which they came up just short of against Miami Dade in the title game. 3. Qualify for the NJCAA National Tournament, which brings us to our #4 moment on the countdown, when they did just that by winning the NJCAA Southeast District B Championship over Spartanburg Methodist.
The Bucs returned to Jacksonville for the second straight weekend to take part in the NJCAA Southeast District Championships with a bid to the NJCAA National Tournament on the line as they squared off with the Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers, the Champions of Region X. FSW set the tone early on with monster blocks on each of the first two points of the match and carried the momentum to a 25-14 win in the first set. It was all Purple and Aqua again in the second as they blew the Pioneers away 25-12. The third was closer, but in the end, the Bucs were just too much for Spartanburg as they finished it off with a 25-17 win to sweep the match 3-0 and punch their ticket to their first NJCAA National Tournament.
The National Tournament didn't exactly go how the Bucs had scripted it as after advancing past the first round when Navarro was forced to pull out with Covid-19 complications, they took on the #2, #3, and #4 teams in the country and couldn't find a win, ultimately finishing 8th at their first Big Dance.
Check back in tomorrow as we continue our countdown with the #3 moment of the 2020-2021 FSW Athletics Year which made its way onto the Sportscenter Top 10 earlier this year!
#10- Roberts Breaks Steals Record
#9- Williams' Monster Double-Double
#8- Bucs Volleyball Clinches First Conference Title
#7- Knowles Becomes Bucs Baseball's First 1st Team All-American
#6- Bucs Softball Completes Furious Comeback at Nationals
#5- Seven Former Bucs Play in March Madness
#4- Bucs Volleyball Qualifies For First National Tournament
#3- 7/21/21
#2- 7/22/21
#1- 7/23/21