With the 25-21, 25-17, 25-19 win, the Patriots (43-9) recorded their second upset of a higher-seeded team in the three-day, 16-team tournament. Tenth-seeded CF knocked off No. 7 North Idaho in its opener Thursday, and now No. 8 Eastern Arizona to close their postseason run. The Patriots also earned the higher finish of Florida's two participants, as Miami-Dade finished outside of the top 10. (View the full tournament schedule and results.)
Individual stat leaders for the Patriots on Saturday included Vanessa Benke (12 kills, 4 blocks, 7 digs); Christine Pinder (11 kills); Eleanora Kazarian (11 kills, 4 blocks); Carolline Reis (5 blocks); and Amber Wyborny (17 digs).
Saturday's victory was a fitting end for the program's inaugural volleyball season, a remarkable odyssey that saw head coach Flavia Siqueira's team fight off injuries and early-season home-court struggles and blossom into a state and national powerhouse.
Few understand the rigors of NJCAA volleyball better than Siqueira, a standout player at Western Nebraska CC and a proven winner in three seasons at the helm of Wyoming's Northwest College before her hiring to guide the launch of Patriot volleyball. With that track record, she knows the success her first-year program enjoyed this season is hard-won and not to be taken for granted.
"It's been a great season. We accomplished our goals step by step, conference, state, and nationals. We've also accomplished a lot that many people did not believe we could do being a first-year program."" said Siqueira. "Finishing seventh at nationals is not an easy task. We grew not only as players, but as individuals, and learned many life lessons. I am very proud of this group of young ladies, and want to thank my assistant coaches for their hard work and the administration at CF."
The Patriots squeezed a lot of action into a fall season that somehow played out from start to finish in under three months.
CF opened its inaugural volleyball season in August with an invitational tournament win in Jacksonville. They swept through Mid-Florida Conference play, conquering defending champion FSC-Jacksonville on its home court in the process, and completed a perfect MFC season in Ocala on Oct. 18. CF entered the FCSAA State Tournament nationally ranked and a favorite to advance.
The Patriots opened against Indian River in its Nov. 4 postseason opener, and won handily. But the next day, nemesis Miami-Dade sent CF into the consolation bracket; they had to again knock off FSC-J that night to survive. Facing elimination with each match, the Patriots woke up on the final day of the tournament and beat Hillsborough, forcing an immediate rematch for the coveted NJCAA Tournament berth. Playing its fifth match in three days, CF swept Hillsborough and burst into celebration. An anti-climactic state title game loss to Miami-Dade did nothing to quell the Patriots' jubilation.
In Missouri, the Patriots made their national debut not with the humility of a first-year program but with the edge of a legitimate national power taking its rightful place among the NJCAA elite. Seeded tenth, CF pulled off the only first-round upset of this year's tournament on Thursday, sweeping seventh-seeded North Idaho in three magnificent sets.
The upstart Patriots met their match the next day in the form of defending NJCAA champion Western Nebraska, which handed CF a three-set sweep. No. 6 seed Iowa Western did the same, sending CF into Saturday's national seventh-place match against Eastern Arizona.
