PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (11-11, 8-4 ASUN) clinched their spot in the 2026 ASUN Volleyball Championship tournament with a dominant 3-0 sweep of West Florida (14-6, 6-4 ASUN) on Friday night at the PenAir Field House. FGCU,
which will host the tournament, took the match 28-26, 25-9, 25-9 to complete a season sweep of the Argonauts.
FGCU out-hit West Florida .337 to -.010, out-killed the Argonauts 40-23, out-aced them 7-2 and out-blocked them 8-3 for its third straight win. After surviving a 15-tie thriller in the opening set, the Eagles took over completely, outscoring West Florida 50-18 over the final two frames and holding the Argonauts to two kills and -.259 hitting in the second set.
Maju Hildebrand led all players with nine kills and hit a career-high .474 without an error, and
Katie Gielas posted a match-high 12 points on seven kills (.667), four aces and two total blocks, with all four aces coming during a jaw-dropping second-set service run.
Julija Grubisic Cabo added eight kills, five digs and three total blocks.
"Incredible effort by our team tonight. We were locked in from the opening serve," head coach
Thais Baziquetto-Allen said. "The attention to detail in executing the game plan was phenomenal in all phases: offensively, defensively and blocking. Really proud of our group."
Camila Soto chipped in six kills on .308 hitting with three total blocks,
Abby Toeniskoetter hit .333 with five kills, an ace and a team-high four total blocks, and
Amany Kuwa added four kills and three total blocks.
Eliska Vytiskova and
Dinara Sabitova split the setting duties right down the middle with 18 assists apiece, Vytiskova adding eight digs, while
Anna Marzella paced the defense with a match-high 13 digs.
The opening set was a slugfest. Grubisic Cabo opened the scoring with a kill, Toeniskoetter had a hand in three of FGCU's first five points with two kills and a block alongside Gielas, and the Eagles held the lead or a tie through the first 42 points of the frame. Hildebrand broke a 7-7 tie with back-to-back kills to spark a three-point burst for a 10-7 lead, and after the Argonauts tied it at 14, Soto, Grubisic Cabo and Kuwa fired off three straight kills to make it 17-14. West Florida battled back to tie it at 18 and 21 and grabbed its first lead of the night at 21-22, but Hildebrand answered immediately with a kill, Soto stuffed an Argonaut swing and Gielas hammered home a kill for set point at 24-23. West Florida saved it and earned a set point of its own at 24-25, but FGCU refused to blink. Soto tied it with a kill, Gielas put the Eagles back in front, and after one more tie at 26, Soto struck again for a 27-26 lead before Kuwa and Grubisic Cabo slammed the door with a block to seal the 28-26 set. FGCU hit .357 with 19 kills in the frame.
From there, it was all Eagles. Sabitova opened the second set with an ace, Grubisic Cabo followed with a kill and teamed with Kuwa on a block for a quick 3-0 lead, and Hildebrand kills kept FGCU in front at 6-3 and 7-4. Then Gielas went to the line and took over. Starting from an 8-5 lead, she served 11 straight points, firing four aces as Toeniskoetter added two kills and a block with Soto and Grubisic Cabo chipped in a kill, capping a 12-0 FGCU run that blew the set open at 19-5. Toeniskoetter and Grubisic Cabo kept the pressure on with kills, Hildebrand added another, and Kuwa and Gielas teamed up on a block to finish off the 25-9 set.
The third set looked a lot like the second. After the only tie of the frame at 3, Hildebrand put FGCU ahead for good with a kill, and Vytiskova served an ace in the middle of a three-point run, capped by a Gielas kill, for a 7-3 lead. Grubisic Cabo and Toeniskoetter combined on a block for a 10-4 cushion, and Toeniskoetter then went on a service run of her own, serving eight straight points with an ace as Grubisic Cabo, Soto and Kuwa all put down kills, including one from Grubisic Cabo off a Toeniskoetter set, to build a 19-5 lead. Grubisic Cabo added another kill, Gielas put down two more to bring up match point at 24-9, and
Catharina Scorza, making her season debut, came off the bench to finish it, hammering home the match-winning kill off a Sabitova set. FGCU hit .407 with 12 kills and just one error in the frame.
FGCU, now 2-0 all-time against West Florida, continues its road swing Sunday, Nov. 8, at Queens at noon ET.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- FGCU clinched a spot in the 2026 ASUN Volleyball Championship tournament, and completed a season sweep of West Florida for its third straight win
- The Eagles out-hit West Florida .337 to -.010 and outscored the Argonauts 50-18 over the final two sets
- Katie Gielas served 11 straight points with four aces during a 12-0 second set run and posted a match-high 12 points on seven kills (.667), four aces and two total blocks
- Maju Hildebrand led all players with nine kills and hit a career-high .474 without an error
- Abby Toeniskoetter served eight straight points during a 9-0 third set run and added five kills and a team-high four total blocks
- Anna Marzella recorded a match-high 13 digs
- Catharina Scorza put down the match-winning kill in her season debut
2026 ASUN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS
Tickets are on sale for the 2026 ASUN Volleyball Championship, set for Nov. 19-22 at Alico Arena. FGCU is hosting the league tournament for the fourth straight year and the 10th time overall, with the top six ASUN teams playing in Fort Myers for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Single-session tickets start at $14, and all-tournament passes start at $30.
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