FORT MYERS, Fla.- After winning their fifth straight Conference Championship this season, six Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers were named to the All-Citrus Conference Team Thursday night at the FCSAA State Tournament banquet while sophomore Julija Grubisic Cabowas named the Player of the Year and Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen was named the Coach of the Year.

 

Leading the way for the Bucs was Julija Grubisic Cabo who was named both the Citrus Conference and FCSAA State Player of the Year for FSW this season.  Grubisic Cabo ranked 5th in the state in kills during the regular season and led all pin hitters with a .368 hitting percentage.  She also contributed on the defensive end with 2.67 digs per set, making her one of just four players in the league averaging over 3.00 kills and 2.50 digs per set this season. She recorded 8 or more kills in 18 of the Bucs 20 regular season matches this season, earning FCSAA Player of the Week honors four times including NJCAA National Player of the Week honors in week eight.

 

Earning 1st Team All-Conference and FCSAA All-State honors was middle hitter Abby Toeniskoetter.  Toeniskoetter led both the state and the country in two different statistical categories during the regular season, putting together a .463 hitting percentage and registering 1.44 blocks per set which were both best at the NJCAA Division I level. Her best match of the season came against rival Miami Dade when she set a new FSW middle hitter record with 21 kills against the Sharks. 

 

The third and final 1st Team All-Conference and FCSAA All-State Team member for the Bucs was sophomore Nina Boledovicova.  Boledovicova ranked 4th in the state with 1.07 blocks per set and 6th in hitting percentage at .340. She got hot for the Bucs down the stretch, hitting .571 in FSW's final six games of the regular season, a stretch in which the Bucs went a perfect 6-0 while winning all 18 sets played.

 

The Bucs also had three 2nd Team All-Conference selections.

 

Leading the group of three was sophomore setter Camilla Brandalise.  Brandalise had an outstanding regular season for the Bucs, leading the conference in both assists and aces per set with 8.90 and 0.54 respectively.  Six times she was named the state's Setter of the Week including week four when she dished out a program record tying 60 assists against #2 Miami Dade.

 

Freshman Giovanna Rocha joined Brandalise on the 2nd Team.  Rocha averaged 2.18 kills per set while hitting .269 in the Bucs 12 conference tilts this season. She had seven or more kills in half the Bucs conference matches including a career high 13 in a win over, then #18 Hillsborough in early October.

 

Magi Milicevic was the third Buc to earn 2nd Team honors, doing so during her first season in Fort Myers. Milicevic was forced into action due to injury for FSW and performed well in the pinch.  She averaged 2.00 kills per set and hit .292 in Citrus Conference play while notching a .963 passing percentage which was second best on the team.

 

Leading the group was Bucs Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen who was named the Citrus Conference Coach of the Year for the second straight season and earns her fifth straight Conference Coach of the Year honors overall. She led the Bucs to an 11-1 record in conference action, winning their fifth straight league title and earning the #1 seed for the FCSAA State Tournament. The Bucs spent the entirety of the 2024 season ranked either #1 or #2 in the NJCAA National Rankings, defeating 13 Nationally ranked teams along the way.

 

FSW gets the postseason underway on Friday in the semifinals of the FCSAA State Tournament at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers where they will take on the winner of the Daytona State/Santa Fe first round match at 4 PM.