MELBOURNE, Fla. (November 3, 2022) - The FCSAA rewarded their cream of the crop Thursday night at the annual FCSAA Volleyball Tournament banquet in Melbourne, honoring the top 12 players in the state with 2022 All-FCSAA/All-NJCAA Region 8 awards.

Suncoast Conference Champions Florida SouthWestern State College and runners-up Miami Dade College had three players each named to the team, while Hillsborough Community College and Daytona State College had two apiece. Polk State College and Eastern Florida State College were also represented on the team.

Miami Dade's Romina Cornelio received the Ilida Medero Award, presented to the Division I FCSAA & NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Year, for the second straight season after finishing second in the state in kills per set with 3.36 and putting together a .340 hitting percentage which was also second-best among FCSAA attackers. 

Florida SouthWestern's Roberta Purashaj earned the Bucs' first Suncoast Conference Freshman of the Year honors after quarterbacking FSW's offense to the tune of a state best 9.60 assists per set while also leading all FCSAA setters in digs per set with 2.40 and blocks per set with 0.51 on the year. 

Two other FSW players also made their way onto the All-FCSAA squad, as sophomores Barbara Koehler and Arianna Rossi were named to the team for the second straight year. Koehler led the state averaging 3.91 kills per set while ranking third in hitting percentage with a .339 mark. Rossi finished third in the state in digs per set with 4.28 and was also a weapon at the service line, finishing third with 0.57 aces per set. 

Miami Dade also had three players honored as joining Cornelio was outside hitter Ana Tevdoradzi and setter Alexandra Koleva. Tevdoradzi ranked second among all freshmen attackers in the state with 2.94 kills per set on the season and finished the season strong with double-doubles in two of her final three games of the year.  Koleva ran the state's most efficient offense this season, dishing out 8.40 assists per set which was second-best in the FCSAA and had a 56-assist effort in a win over Hillsborough.

A pair of Hillsborough hitters were tabbed All-FCSAA as sophomores Alice Munari and Svenja Rodenbusch earned their spots on the team.  Munari finished tied for second in the state this season averaging 3.36 kills per set for the Hawks and also made an impact on the defensive end, averaging 2.67 digs per set.  Rodenbusch was right behind her on the kills table, putting up 3.23 per set on the year and ranked second among non-DSs with 2.70 digs per set this season. 

The Falcons of Daytona State also had a pair named All-FCSAA as sophomore Alina Carrillo makes her second straight appearance on the list while freshman Julia Rienks joins her in 2022.  Carrillo was one of the best two-way players in the state this season leading all hitters averaging 3.34 digs per set which ranked eighth in the state while also chipping in 2.61 kills per set on the season. Rienks finished in the top 20 in the state in kills per set with 2.51 and hit .283 on the year which was good for eighth best. 

Dominating the middle all season for Polk State, Kaila Ru was the Eagles' representative on the All-FCSAA squad.  Ru led all qualified hitters in the state with a .381 hitting percentage this season while ranking seventh in the state with 3.04 kills per set on the year. 

Freshman Gaia Riedmuller helped lead Eastern Florida State to a top four seed at the FCSAA Tournament this season and is the face of the Titans on the All-FCSAA Team.  She led the state in total digs this season with 337 and finished fourth in Florida averaging 4.06 digs per set on the year. 

All 12 All-FCSAA players will be in action at this weekend's FCSAA State Tournament in Melbourne.  Five of the six participating teams are ranked in the Top 20 of this week's NJCAA National Rankings and will vie for the Southeast District A and Southeast District B Championships with tickets to the NJCAA National Tournament in West Plains, Missouri on the line.

The 12 All-FCSAA honorees were also recognized as part of the Suncoast Conference Awards, also announced on Thursday.

In addition to individual honors by Cornelio (Player of the Year) and Purashaj (Freshman of the Year), FSW's Thais Baziquetto-Allen earned her third straight Suncoast Conference Coach of the Year award after leading the Bucs to a 21-1 overall and 13-1 record in Suncoast Conference play to earn the #1 seed for the FCSAA Tournament.