CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Florida SouthWestern sophomore Roberta Purashaj is going to need an extra bag to take home all of her hardware after this season as Thursday, the Buccaneers setter added the ultimate award to her growing trophy case as she was named the 2023 NJCAA Division I National Player of the Year.
Purashaj was the NJCAA's best player wire to wire this season you could say as the sophomore began the year by capturing Most Valuable Player honors at the Battle of the Beach Tournament on the opening weekend of the season and closed the year as the Most Valuable Player at the NJCAA National Tournament in which the Bucs earned their second straight national Championship. Purashaj set a new FSW single season record this season with 1,035 assists while guiding the Nation's top offense to an NJCAA best 13.87 kills per set and a .316 team hitting percentage to make FSW the first program to lead the Nation in both categories in nine years. Her 11.01 assists per set ranked 3rd Nationally, but even more impressive was the .418 hitting percentage that Bucs hitters notched when attacking a ball coming out of Purashaj's hands this year. She had 30 or more assists 22 different times this season including a season high 57 in a win over Polk State and 46 in the NJCAA National Championship game against Miami Dade. Purashaj will now go down as one of the most decorated players in NJCAA Division I Volleyball history with a resume that includes being a two time NJCAA National Champion, the 2023 NJCAA National Player of the Year and NJCAA National Tournament Most Valuable Player, a two time NJCAA All-American, and the 2023 FCSAA and Citrus Conference Player of the Year.
From a team perspective, Purashaj led FSW to equal success. The Bucs finished 58-2 in her two seasons in Fort Myers, the best two year record of any NJCAA Division I team since the 1997-98 seasons. Of their 58 wins the past two seasons, 35 came against Nationally ranked opponents. FSW won back to back NJCAA National Championships in just their fourth and fifth years as a program while also capturing back to back Conference Championships and becoming just the second different program to win back to back FCSAA State Championships in the tournament's 55 year history.
Purashaj becomes the second straight Buccaneer to be named the National Player of the Year, joining 2022 honoree and current Wichita State Shocker Barbara Koehler who accomplished the feat last season.