FGCU seniors (L-R): Julija Grubisic Cabo, Anna Marzella, Abby Toeniskoetter, and Eliska Vytiskova were honored prior to Sunday’s regular-season home finale at Alico Arena. (Photo by Nick De Castro / FGCU Athletics)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Florida Gulf Coast University volleyball team honored its senior class in fashion Sunday afternoon, sweeping ASUN Conference foe Jacksonville University 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-17) at Alico Arena to close out its final home match of the regular season.

Prior to the match, the Eagles honored seniors Julija Grubisic Cabo, Abby Toeniskoetter, Anna Marzella and Eliska Vytiskova. With the win, FGCU improved to 10-11 overall and 7-4 in ASUN play, while Jacksonville fell to 10-14 overall and 4-6 in conference play.

“Very proud of this team,” FGCU head coach Thais Baziquetto-Allen said. “I’ve known Abby since her freshman year of high school, and then Anna for four years, and Jules (Julija) for three years. Ellie (Eliska) she transferred here before I got the job, she stayed and she’s been tremendous for us. I’m just proud of the work.”

FGCU bolted to an early 11-4 lead in the opening set—powered by a service ace from Dinara Sabitova, kills from Maju Hildebrand, three consecutive aces from Grubisic Cabo, and an exclamation-point ace by Toeniskoetter—before Jacksonville clawed back within 11-8, only for the Eagles to extend their advantage to 20-13 behind key kills from Gielas and Amany Kuwa alongside back-to-back aces from Toeniskoetter; after the Dolphins trimmed the margin to 21-18, Gielas caught fire with two vital kills down the stretch, setting up set point via a Toeniskoetter block before a Jacksonville error sealed the 25-20 frame and a 1-0 match lead for the Eagles.

The Eagles carried that momentum straight into set two, building a 20-12 cushion behind multi-point surges from Kuwa (two kills and two combination blocks) and Camila Soto (two kills and two combination blocks), alongside repeated kills from Grubisic Cabo and a Vytiskova service ace. Jacksonville trimmed the deficit to 21-15, before Grubisic Cabo and Toeniskoetter stretched the advantage to set point at 24-17. Gielas sealed the 25-18 frame with a kill off a Dinara Sabitova set.

The Eagles broke an early 4-4 tie in the final set behind Gielas—who delivered two kills and an ace—alongside two kills from Grubisic Cabo to build a 10-7 cushion. After Jacksonville leveled the score at 10-10, FGCU responded with a 6-0 run powered by a Soto kill, a Sabitova service ace, a Toeniskoetter kill, a Grubisic Cabo block, and a Hildebrand kill to pull ahead 16-10. FGCU hit .424 in the frame as Toeniskoetter and Hildebrand kept the offense going through the middle stretch. A Kuwa-Soto combination block made it 21-15, and Grubisic Cabo closed out her Senior Day in fitting fashion, hammering home two of the final three points—including the match-winning kill at 25-17—to seal the 3-0 sweep.

“FGCU is a really special place. It’s just filled with love, with development, with ambitions,” Grubisic Cabo said. “Not only has it shaped me as a player but also as a person, as a teammate, as a classmate. It showed me how to be aggressive. It taught me how to push through hard times.”

Grubisic Cabo led all players with 14.5 points, hitting a career-high .500 with 10 kills on just one error while adding three aces, nine digs, and two blocks. Gielas posted a match-high 12 kills to lead the attack, while Toeniskoetter put together an efficient line—hitting .545 with six kills, four aces, and four blocks for 13 total points.

“FGCU is a really special place. It’s just filled with love, with development, with ambitions,” Grubisic Cabo said. “Not only has it shaped me as a player but also as a person, as a teammate, as a classmate. It developed me on the court. It showed me how to be aggressive. It taught me how to push through hard times. We play with so much love for one another that it just feels so easy.”

Grubisic Cabo also spoke about sweeping a Jacksonville team looking to improve in the ASUN standings.

“It just shows how resilient we are,” Grubisic Cabo said. “We’ve had a tough past couple of games and I feel like we just needed this to show that we don’t only play with joy and love, but also we’re very skilled and we have a high volleyball IQ. We just kind of reset after those couple of games that we lost and went back to the film room, went back to the court and just pushed through everything and it just happens.”

FGCU’s setters kept the Dolphins’ block out of position throughout the afternoon, as the Eagles out-aced Jacksonville 11-2 across the match. Vytiskova had 20 assists alongside an ace—crossing 870 career assists at FGCU—while Sabitova added 17. The Eagles used multiple scoring options to prevent Jacksonville from establishing a baseline block scheme.

“One of the things that we are very strong at is that we have multiple offensive weapons any given day,” Baziquetto-Allen noted. “When we’re able to engage all of them, it makes it hard to defend because they have to pick and choose or leave openings, and we take advantage of that.”

Jacksonville’s Abbie Tuyo finished with 10 kills and Jaylyn Tuiasosopo added nine, but FGCU’s back-row defense—led by libero Marzella’s match-high 13 digs—neutralized out-of-system swings. The Dolphins finished with 15 total errors, struggling to gain traction against the Eagles’ net defense.

The win capped off a successful home stretch for the Eagles, who now take their Alico Arena momentum on the road to finish conference play, opening Friday, Nov. 6, at the University of West Florida in Pensacola at 7 p.m.

“We can take a piece of home just with us on the road and kind of have the same emotion and the same happiness we’ve been playing together,” Baziquetto-Allen said.

Grubisic Cabo echoed the team’s forward-looking focus heading into the season’s final stretch.

“We’ve showed good volleyball today. We still haven’t reached our peak,” Grubisic Cabo said. “We’re on the way to get there, and game by game, that’s how it’s going to go.”