Lady Sharks National Title Hopes Fall Short Again In Championship Game

For the second consecutive year, Miami Dade College’s National Title hopes were dashed by Florida Southwestern State College in the National Championship game.

The Buccaneers (31-1) defeated the Lady Sharks (19-25, 25-16, 25-19 and 25-18) on Nov. 18 in Hutchinson, Kansas to claim back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Volleyball Championships.

Florida Southwestern has ended MDC’s season the past three years and defeated the Lady Sharks in three of four matches this season.

“We’re going to take it back,” said Lady Sharks Head Volleyball Coach Origenes “Kiko” Benoit. “Watch the videos again, work a little harder, and put it together for next year and hopefully win a championship.”

Despite falling short of a National Title, the Lady Sharks finished the season with a 23-6 overall record and an 11-3 mark in conference play. They started the season with a 12-1 record and were ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation. 

Second-year outside hitter Ana Tevdoradze led the Lady Sharks in total kills (322), kills per set (3.98), total points (368) and points per set (4.5) freshman defensive specialist Mia Martinez topped the squad in total digs (468) and digs per set (5.26) and sophomore middle blocker Vivian Lucumi was the team leader in solo blocks (28) and assisted blocks (98). 

“This season helped me grow as an athlete because I started to get recognition,” Martinez said. “Collectively, it was a good year for everyone. I understand we fell short of our goal of taking the championship home but this means that next year we’ll just come with more hunger to win it all.”

To get to the championship game, the Lady Sharks defeated Casper College (25-23, 25-14, and 25-19) in the first round, Weatherford College (26-24, 25-18, and 25-17) in the quarterfinals and Navarro College (21-25, 25-21, 31-29, and 25-20) in the semifinals.

In the championship match, the Lady Sharks who were the only team to defeat FSW this season—a 3-2 win in Fort Myers on Oct. 21— won the first set 25-19. The Buccaneers returned the favor, winning the second set 25-16.

The third set was tied at 11-11 before FSW pulled away and won 25-19. The fourth set was tied 10-10 before the Buccaneers ended the match with a 25-18 win to claim back-to-back and national titles becoming only the fifth volleyball team in NJCAA Division I history to pull off the feat.

Middle blocker Nina Boledovicova led FSW with 19 total points and 14 kills in the match and right side hitter Victoria Zibecchi added 16 total points and 15 kills. 

The Lady Sharks were led by freshman outside hitter Katielle Altagracia Alonzo Vargas’ 16.5 total points and 16 kills. Martinez added 25 digs and Tevdoradze had 12.5 total points and 12 kills. 

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