This coming Thursday, March 2, the FIU Beach Volleyball team begins its 2017 season in Boca Raton, Florida. The Panthers will play two afternoon games before traveling to St. Augustine, Florida for the UNF Beach Invitational, March 4-5. Each day leading up to the first match on Thursday, FIUSports.com will feature a player in the Senior Spotlight Series. This Monday, get to know Morgan Crawley.
 
Senior Tennessee native, Morgan Crawley has made the most of her FIU experience on and off the sand. As a beach volleyball veteran in her fourth and final season, she is more than ready to take on the 2017 campaign.
 
Crawley chose FIU for the year-round sunny skies and warm temperatures. As a sophomore in high school, she fell in love with beach volleyball and started playing in local tournaments. Once she became more serious about the sport she got involved in the Florida circuit, where she was recruited by FIU.
 
Crawley's earliest memory involving volleyball was playing on her fourth grade team and getting her first jersey (even though it was just a t-shirt). "I thought getting my name on the back of my shirt was honestly the coolest thing ever, I think I still own it."
 
A typical week for Crawley, a psychology major, includes a 6 a.m. morning practice every day, three days a week in the research lab, church on Monday night, class Tuesday and Thursday, Honors College requirements, and volunteer work in Liberty City. Now that the season is in full swing, she will be traveling for tournaments most weekends.
 
But she says she wouldn't trade it for anything, "Being an athlete taught me if you want something you have to go get it."
 
Crawley is excited to see what the team will accomplish this season, with a lot of new girls bringing fresh talent and skills to the sand. She says that their goals are to win a conference championship and then make their way to Nationals. "I'm ready for a ring."  
 
Crawley's Keys To Success: "Hard work and dedication: you get out what you put in. If you're just going to practice, you're just doing what everyone else is doing but in order to be successful you have to do the extra. You have to study yourself on film and you have to be the first one in the weight room. You have to take any opportunity you can to play. Keep pushing yourself."
 
Pre-Match Rituals: "I double and triple check everything. Even if I know I have everything I take it out of my bag and check again before every game."
 
Advice to future players: "Stick with it. There's going to be highs and lows but one thing that is going to be constant is volleyball."
 
Hobbies: Morgan enjoys spending time in the research lab. This is her very own professional environment that she is able to excel in.
 
When she's done playing at FIU, Crawley's going to miss her teammates the most; they are the people that always have her back. But she is confident that she will visit them in countries all over the world and knows that she will always have a partner to call for a pick-up game.
 
Inspired by helping others, Crawley says: "A lot of times kids aren't given the opportunity to excel or play sports, or maybe even go to college. So I do it for the people that aren't able to do it and when I see them I make sure to tell them that they have all the opportunity in the world."
 
The most important lesson she learned at FIU is to apply herself academically as well as athletically. Volleyball is what brought her here, but her academics have pushed her to succeed beyond that. She says to never stop looking for opportunities.
 
Crawley is most excited for the California tournament in March when the Panthers play at UCLA in Manhattan Beach. "It will be a good trial run to see where the team is at in terms of Nationals."
 
Crawley has set the bar high for herself professionally. Plans after graduation include applying to a PhD program for clinical science and psychology. Her ideal job would be to work at a university as a professor producing research and publications or to have her own practice.
 
She has one thing to say to her teammates before the season opener this week, as Coach says, "Let's do this thang!" 

#####

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU volleyball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).

###

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.Maidique and 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/.