FORT MYERS, Fla.- The three time defending NJCAA National Champion Florida SouthWestern Buccaneers have released their 2025 Volleyball schedule and once again, the Bucs will face a challenging slate in their quest to defend their title.

Three exhibition matches dot the Bucs preseason schedule with the most anticipated matchup coming on August 12^th when they travel across town to take on a Florida Gulf Coast team featuring four former Bucs as well as former FSW Head Coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen. They see their lone preseason home matchup on August 16^th against Palm Beach Atlantic before wrapping up the exhibition season against Eckerd on August 19^th in St. Petersburg.

The regular season begins for the Bucs on August 22^nd and 23^rd at home at the Battle at the Beach Tournament at Suncoast Credit Union Arena when they host seven of the top teams from around the country in the opening weekend event. In their 2025 season opener the Bucs will square off against 12 time National Champion Southern Idaho before seeing a rematch of their thrilling NJCAA National Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Utah State-Eastern in match two of the day. Day two of the Battle at the Beach has the Bucs dancing with the Snow Badgers out of Utah followed by wrapping up the weekend against Trinity Valley in a grudge match for new Buc Sara Gamboa who transferred to FSW from Trinity Valley at the break last year.

Week two will see the Bucs make a trip out West to the Rocky Mountains of Salt Lake City, Utah where they will take part in the Crystal InnVitational hosted by Salt Lake Community College. For the second straight weekend they will open up with Southern Idaho before taking on the host Bruins in the nightcap of day one.  Friday the Bucs take on Vegas' College of Southern Nevada before closing out the tournament Saturday morning with a date against Western Nebraska, where new FSW Head Coach Cesar Benatti will square off against his former player Fatima Balza and the Cougars.

The Bucs last non-conference tune-ups of the year will come Labor Day Weekend in Melbourne at the Titan Invitational. There the Bucs will see three teams they have never gone up against before in Andrew, USC Lancaster, and Weatherford from Texas as well as Jefferson out of Missouri on day two of the event.

Citrus Conference play begins the following weekend as the Bucs host the Hillsborough Hawks on September 13^th for the final time in league play before HCC moves to the NJCAA Division II ranks next season. The Bucs first conference road test of the year comes at Santa Fe September 17^th before closing out the month with dates against Polk State and Eastern Florida.

The meat of the Bucs 2025 schedule comes in October when they play eight Citrus Conference matches, six of those coming against teams that finished the season ranked in the NJCAA Top 25. The action kicks off on October 1st in a rematch of the 2022, 2023, and 2024 National Championship matches as the Bucs go on the road to take on the rival Miami Dade Sharks. Later that week they will make the trip to the Surf Coast to take on Daytona State before wrapping up a three game road trip against Hillsborough in Tampa on October 8^th. After dates with Santa Fe and Polk State, the Bucs close out the regular season with three straight matches at home against Eastern Florida, Miami Dade, and Daytona State October 22^nd, 25^th, and 29^th .

The route to an FCSAA Championship will run through Suncoast Arena this season as the Bucs host the 2025 FCSAA Championships in Fort Myers November 6^th and 7^th.  The finalists from that tournament will advance to Saturday's NJCAA Southeast District Championships, also at Suncoast Arena, with two tickets to the NJCAA National Tournament on the line.

This year's NJCAA National Tournament will once again be hosted in Clarksville, Tennessee at Austin Peay State University November 19-22 with the final day of action streaming live on ESPN+.

FLORIDA SOUTHWESTERN VOLLEYBALL 2025 SCHEDULE