BATON ROUGE, LA. (March 12, 2016) – The ninth-ranked, FIU beach volleyball team (3-2, 0-2 in CCSA) swept New Orleans, 5-0, but fell to conference rival, Georgia State, 4-1, in Day One of the Tiger Beach Challenge at LSU. Both of the Panthers' losses have come against conference opponents.
 
The Panthers kicked the day off, sweeping the Privateers. The team was led by the number one pair of junior, Aren Cupp and graduate student, Martyna Gluchowicz with a dominant 21-12, 21-11 victory. At the five slot, senior Gloria Levorin and freshman Katie Friesen made their collegiate beach volleyball debuts, defeating the Privateers, 2-0 (21-13, 21-12).
 
Against No. 10 ranked Georgia State, FIU's lone victory came from the number five slot, in which redshirt sophomore Savannah Davis and sophomore Natalia Giron defeated Fourspring/Townsend 2-0 (21-16, 21-13). The victory improves the duo's record to 4-0 on the season, making them the only pair to remain undefeated after competing in all four matches.
 
The Panthers will be back in action Saturday morning, March 13, with a rematch against conference rival, LSU, and facing ULM later. First serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET.
 
(#9) FIU def. New Orleans, 5-0
 
No. 1 Cupp/Gluchowicz (FIU) def. Sander/Reimer (UNO); 21-12, 21-11
No. 2 Sataric/Peterson (FIU) def. Ramirez/Grice (UNO); 21-9, 21-12
No. 3 Toghiyani/Bethancourt (FIU) def. Frank/Uline (UNO); 21-12, 21-15
No. 4 Davis/Giron (FIU) def. Dunn/Levy (UNO); 21-14, 21-14
No. 5 Levorin/Friesen (FIU) def. Lau/Zmiric (UNO); 21-13, 21-12
Exh. Taylor/Crawley (FIU) def. Miller/Roblez (UNO); 21-15, 21-10
 
(#10) Georgia State def. (#9) FIU, 4-1
 
No. 1 Rawls/Interwies (GSU) def. Cupp/Gluchowicz (FIU); 21-17, 23-21
No. 2 Olivova/Button (GSU) def. Hogan/Dodd (FIU); 21-17, 21-18
No. 3 Wilson/Weiner (GSU) def. Sataric/Peterson (FIU); 16-21, 21-18, 15-9
No. 4 Pickering/Rohan (GSU) def. Toghiyani/Bethancourt (FIU); 12-21, 21-17, 17-15
No. 5 Davis/Giron (FIU) def. Fourspring/Townsend (GSU); 21-16, 21-13
Exh. Levorin/Friesen (FIU) def. Swaney/McGinn (GSU); 21-14, 21-14

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A.Maidiqueand Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, theWolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA andhas over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.