CHARLOTTE, N.C.- After making history by leading the Florida SouthWestern State Buccaneers to three straight NJCAA Division I National Championships, former Bucs Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen has been announced as a member of the 2025 NJCAA Volleyball Hall of Fame Class which will be inducted at the National Tournament banquet on November 18th in Clarksville, Tennessee.
"I am so humbled by this honor" Baziquetto-Allen said. "There are so many people that were a part of this journey that I can't even begin to name them all, but I am so thankful for each of them. The Athletic Directors that gave me the opportunities, the assistant coaches and staff that helped me every step of the way, my family and friends who supported me through the ups and the downs, the amazing fans who made every stop feel like home, and most of all, the incredible young women that I had the privilege to coach, I thank you all very much and hope you know how special you all are to me."
Baziquetto-Allen led FSW to almost unimaginable success through their first six seasons as a program, winning five Conference Championships and three FCSAA State Championships, while becoming the first NJCAA Division I coach in history to lead her team to three straight NJCAA Division I National Championships from 2022-2024. During the Bucs three year reign atop the NJCAA, they won as many National Championships as total losses with an 84-3 record. Baziquetto-Allen was named the NJCAA National Coach of the Year in 2022, 2023, and 2024 and recruited and coached the NJCAA National Player of the Year in all three seasons in Barbara Koehler, Roberta Purashaj, and Julija Grubisic Cabo. In six seasons as the Head Coach with the Bucs, Baziquetto-Allen amassed a record of 145-25 (.853) overall and 65-5 (.929) in conference play. Baziquetto-Allen put together a proven track record of sending players onto the next level with 25 players moving onto the Division I level in her first five recruiting cycles and 32 players overall continuing their careers at the four year level.
It wasn't just success on the court that set Baziquetto-Allen's Bucs apart though. FSW won six straight AVCA Team Academic Awards during her time in Fort Myers and her 2024 Championship squad was named the FCSAA Academic Team of the Year with a 3.75 Team GPA, the first team in FSW Athletics history to do so. Individually, five of Baziquetto-Allen's student-athletes were named CSC Academic All-Americans during her time with the Bucs, more than every other NJCAA Volleyball program combined during that stretch.
Prior to her time at FSW, Baziquetto-Allen spent three seasons as the Head Coach at Seward County in Liberal, Kansas where she put together an overall record of 86-28, while going 43-5 in Jayhawk West Conference play.
In nine years as an NJCAA Head Coach, Baziquetto-Allen had an all-time record of 231-53 (.813) and was 109-10 (.916) in conference play, winning seven Conference Championships, four Region Championships, and making six trips to the NJCAA National Tournament. She coached 11 NJCAA All-Americans with 9 of those being 1st Team All-American selections.
Baziquetto-Allen's first step of her coaching career also came with an NJCAA program, Lamar Community College in Colorado, where she helped the Lopes to a 26 win season in her only year there.
Her journey in the United States also started in the NJCAA as a student-athlete at St. Petersburg College where she played for two seasons before transferring on and graduating from Western New Mexico University.
"This honor is probably even more special to me having been an NJCAA student-athlete" Baziquetto-Allen said. "The NJCAA's slogan is 'Opportunities Start Here' and for me, and hundreds of thousands of other student-athletes like me, that is exactly what the NJCAA provided, an opportunity to start my academic career, which led to me earning a degree, which eventually led through a long, winding road of other NJCAA institutions, to being bestowed this honor today."
In January of 2025, Baziquetto-Allen took over as the Head Coach at Florida Gulf Coast University where she is currently coaching four former NJCAA National Champions with the Eagles.
Baziquetto-Allen will be formally inducted into the NJCAA Volleyball Hall of Fame on November 18th in Clarksville, Tennessee at the NJCAA National Tournament Banquet.