August 24, 2025
Bucs Win Battle at the Beach Championship, Gamboa MVP
The #1 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers cruised to their fourth consecutive Battle at the Beach Tournament Championship, sweeping past Snow and #10 Trinity Valley to finish a perfect weekend at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Five FSW players were named to the All-Tournament Team with Sara Gamboa leading the way with MVP honors.
FORT MYERS, Fla.- The #1 Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers cruised to their fourth consecutive Battle at the Beach Tournament Championship, sweeping past Snow and #10 Trinity Valley to finish a perfect weekend at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. Five FSW players were named to the All-Tournament Team with Sara Gamboa leading the way with MVP honors.
In their first match of the day against Snow, FSW got off to an early lead before the Badgers crept back in and made it a one point game. The Bucs never relinquished their lead, but Snow wouldn't let them get too far out in front as the two found themselves in an 18-17 first set at the 35 point mark. A big block from Irina Makinen and Aleksandra Lucic padded the Bucs lead to three moments later and a rocket down the line from Magi Milicevic stretched it to a 22-18 advantage in favor of the Purple and Aqua. Snow wouldn't go away though, outscoring FSW 5-1 over the next six points to tie score at 23. Makinen went to the outside to Sara Gamboa to put the Bucs back in front before an attack error by the Badgers sealed their fate in the first as the Bucs took it 25-23 to go ahead 1-0 in the match.
The second set followed a similar script early on as the Bucs got out to an early lead just to see the Badgers get back into it and tie the score at 9. Lucic banged home an overpass and then dialed up an ace to put the Bucs back up a pair at the midway point of the set. Snow got a sideout, but the Bucs immediately got the ball back, rolling off five straight after that to open up their largest lead of the set at 17-10. The Bucs were never challenged again in the second as Brookelyn Savoya came in off the bench and hooked up with Gamboa on the outside for a thunderous kill to finish things off as FSW won the second 25-16 to go up 2-0 in the match.
The third was back and forth early, but again, the Bucs dominated the middle of the set to take control. With the score 10-9 in favor of FSW, the Bucs rolled off six of the next seven, opening up their lead to 16-10 in the blink of an eye. A monster block from Lucic and Patrycja Labucka padded the lead to 20-12 and the Bucs scored the final four points of the set to put a bow on a 25-13 third set win to complete the sweep.
The Bucs defense held Snow to a -.036 hitting mark in the win while the FSW offense saw nine different players register a kill including Gamboa who finished with a match high 11. Makinen dished out 23 assists while Webb collected 10 digs and Lucic's 3 blocks led the team.
The win for FSW set up a defacto Tournament Championship match in the final tango of the weekend as the Bucs squared off against #10 Trinity Valley.
With the hardware on the line, the Bucs jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the first and held the four point lead to the middle of the set at 12-8. Makinen connected with Valentina Zevallos on a quick in the middle to make it a six point game and Trinity Valley never got within striking distance again as FSW turned to former Cardinal Sara Gamboa to finish things off as the Bucs sophomore crushed back to back kills to the floor to close out a 25-17 first set win for the Bucs to put them on top 1-0.
Set two was a repeat effort as once again it was 6-3 FSW to start and 12-6 midway through the set. A huge back row kill from Magi Milicevic made it a seven point game and back to back Trinity Valley hitting errors cushioned it to an 18-9 score in favor of FSW. The Bucs continued to pour it on, pounding the Cardinals with an unrelenting attack, ultimately closing Trinity Valley out 25-17 to go ahead 2-0 at the intermission.
With their backs to the wall Trinity Valley came out swinging in the third, jumping on the Bucs 7-1 to give them their largest deficit of the weekend. Slowly the Bucs worked their way back into it and an ace from Milicevic had them within one at 10-9. They drew even at 12-12 and used a 3-0 burst to take their first lead of the set at 18-15. Trinity Valley scored the next three to tie things back up and FSW answered with three straight of their own to go back in front 21-18. A pair of kills from Gamboa and a solo stuff from the Bucs superstar gave them match point and two points later a Cardinal service error put the period on things 25-20 to give the Bucs the sweep.
The Bucs hammered home 44 kills as a team including 19 in the second set in the victory. Gamboa notched a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs while Milicevic had one of her own with 10 kills and 11 digs. Lucic had her best game as a Buc with 8 kills and a team best 6 blocks while Makinen led FSW with 34 assists and Sarah Webb had a team best 14 digs.
At the end of the tournament Gamboa was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 4.33 kills per set on the weekend while Makinen, Rocha, Webb, and Lucic all joined her on the All-Tournament Team.
FSW wins the Battle at the Beach for the fourth straight season, extending their winning streak to 16 straight at the annual tournament.
The Bucs open the 2025 season a perfect 4-0 with a pair of wins over Top 10 ranked opponents while winning all 12 sets played.
FSW's next action will come in the Rocky Mountains as they travel to Salt Lake City on Thursday where they will take on Southern Idaho for the second time in a week followed by matchups with Salt Lake, Southern Nevada, and Western Nebraska through Saturday.