Roy Allen, Florida SouthWestern, and Stephen Delgado, Miami Dade contributed to this release

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The NJCAA Division I Volleyball National Championship trophy will continue to reside in the Sunshine State, but it has a new home in 2025.

After falling in the championship match the three previous seasons to Florida SouthWestern State College, Miami Dade College finally claimed the title on Saturday, knocking off its FCSAA rival in straight sets, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19. 

The win gave Miami Dade and head coach Kiko Benoit their first title since 2017. 

Both teams had a grueling path to Saturday's finale, surviving a five-set scare in the quarterfinals. FSW also had to get past a five-set thriller in the semifinal round.

The Bucs got off to a good start under the bright lights, jumping out to a 7-4 advantage early in the first before Miami Dade came back to tie the game up at 12 at the midway point of the period. Back to back Bucs errors allowed the Sharks to take the lead and Miami Dade scored five of the final six points of the set to take it 25-20 and go ahead 1-0 in the match. The Bucs registered 14 kills in the set, but were hampered with seven errors to hit just .189 to Miami Dade's .323 in the first. 

The Sharks never allowed Florida SouthWestern, one of the nation's top offenses to settle into rhythm. MDC erased early deficits in both the first and second sets, responding with steady side-out volleyball and timely runs built off aggressive serving and disciplined blocking. In the third, Miami Dade exploded out to a 10–2 lead behind a run of aces and from Luyeisy Marquez Moreno forcing FSW into repeated timeouts as the Sharks seized full control.

The Bucs fought back, going on a 5-1 run on the right arm of Sara Gamboa to inch closer before scoring four straight including a kill and block from Kiley Petras to draw back to within two at 14-12. The momentum was short lived though as the Sharks got a sideout and dialed up back to back aces behind that to pad their lead back to 18-12. The Bucs couldn't sustain any runs from there on as FSW and Miami Dade traded points to 22-16  before the Sharks put the Bucs out of their misery with a kill from setter Elonora Gicheva to in the third 25-19 to finish off a 3-0 sweep. 

Marquez Moreno was named the Tournament's Most Valuable Player and she was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Angelica Rodriguez and Eleonora Gicheva and FSW's Gamboa and Irina Makinen. 

Benoit was named the Heidi Cartisser Coach of the Tournament.