Fort Lauderdale native Brooke Bauer delivers a winning jump serve on the way to claiming the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale championship with partner Maddie Anderson. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

The Florida State University Seminoles war chant was loud and proud at the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale Tournament. The Men’s Open division was won by FSU alumni Kevin Coyle and Daniel Leathers, while their female counterparts Brooke Bauer and Maddie Anderson claimed the Women’s Open title. The weekend tournament attracted 162 teams and closed out the summer season.

Bauer and Anderson defeated AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) pros Karolina Marciniak and Kim Hildreth 21-14, 25-23 to clinch the title. The FSU court one teammates are coming off a sensational season that saw them being named first team All-Americans. The Lady Seminoles also made it to the NCAA Beach Volleyball finals before dropping a 3-1 decision to the University of Southern California.

Maddie Anderson skies high for the block at the net in the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale championship match. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

Bauer is a Fort Lauderdale native and a former two-time indoor volleyball Player of the Year and high school state champion at St. Thomas Aquinas. She also earned All-American honors while playing for Pepperdine University.

Bauer ended her college playing career on a high note and has returned home to Fort Lauderdale. Anderson has another year of eligibility at FSU and is from Palm Beach Gardens.

Bauer and Anderson showed off the team chemistry they developed in college and jumped out to an early lead in the first set to cruise to a 21-14 win. In the second set, Marciniak and Hildreth would not go quietly and battled till the end but came up just short. After eight match points, Bauer and Anderson finally prevailed to take the second set 25-23 and the match.

Karolina Marciniak digs a service shot to set up partner Kim Hildreth in the Dig the Beach Women’s Open finals. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

“It was so much fun to get to the NCAA finals this year and it was very special,” Bauer said. “It has been great to get back together with Maddie who was my playing partner at FSU. They (Marciniak and Hildreth) are a very good team and they started turning it on and served very well. It is always fun to compete and learn against very good players like them. We were definitely challenged but stuck together and worked through the tough points. We had that previous experience to go back on.”

Bauer wants to continue to play the game she grew up playing after getting settled in her hometown.

FSU teammates Brooke Bauer and Maddie Anderson celebrate winning the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale Tournament to close out the summer season. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

“I have a job lined up here and will be a South Florida girl for a while,” she said. “I want to continue to play in the local tournaments like Dig the Beach and the AVP tour with my partner Katie Horton. It has been really cool and it’s my first summer being out of school and I’m feeling it out. I love the game and it gives me such joy.”

FSU alumni Coyle and Leathers made it to the finals and faced off against Jhonny Salvador, of Boca Raton, and former Cardinal Gibbons standout Michael Valenzi who plays for Penn State as an outside hitter. The Seminoles duo got a fast start in the first set to earn a 21-10 win, before being tested in the second set to take a 21-18 victory.

Men’s Open champions Daniel Leathers returns a service shot with a dig as teammate Kevin Coyle prepares for the set in the championship final at Fort Lauderdale Beach. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

Leathers is a Delray Beach resident while Coyle lives in Orlando. Coyle is a late bloomer to the game and has been playing the beach game for six years. The one-time rowing crew athlete has made a successful transition to the beach volleyball game.

“Dan and I are proud Seminole graduates and it was nice to see an all-FSU championship with the girls winning,” Coyle said. “This is our first Dig the Beach title. We did have an earlier victory in a Jacksonville tournament, which we are happy about. We have competed in a couple of AVP tournaments. It’s great to play good competition and Dig the Beach is a great event.”

Daniel Leathers puts the finishing touches to the championship match with a winning jump serve to take the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale Men’s Open division with partner Kevin Coyle. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)

Leathers has been playing in the Dig the Beach tournaments for the last three years. The Delray Beach native played for Boca Raton High School and just graduated from FSU this summer.

“I played the beach game all throughout college and Kevin and I have developed good chemistry together,” Leathers said. “We are getting better every time we play. It was a nice pay day. This is the best tournament in Florida. We see a lot of strong young players coming up and are challenging the veteran players.”

Jhonny Salvador attempts to evade the successful block of Kevin Coyle in the Men’s Open Championship at the Dig the Beach Fort Lauderdale Tournament. (Emmett Hall / Contributor)