MIAMI (March 20, 2017) – It was a record-setting week for FIU Athletics as the Panthers saw a diver earn the swimming and diving program its first First-Team All-America honor, the softball team set the school record for consecutive wins, the tennis team continue to dominate opponents, a discus thrower break a 31-year-old record, baseball wrap up a 3-2 week and beach volleyball have a nearly perfect weekend.
 
Junior Rebecca Quesnel became FIU swimming and diving's first-ever First-Team All-American with a third-place finish in the platform program at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis. Quesnel, who became the first Panther to reach an NCAA final after posting a score of 290.95 (fourth-best during the prelims), scored a 302.35 in the finals for a spot on the medal podium. Quesnel's third-place finish gave the Panthers 16 points and a 32nd-place overall finish in this year's championship. The 302.35 is the second-best score of the Burlington, Ontario, native's career. She posted a school-record 325.35 versus Florida Atlantic back on Feb. 2.
 
Quesnel, who was the program's first-ever diver to qualify for the NCAAs last season, returned to the pinnacle of collegiate swimming and diving in 2017, posting a score of 525.05 (10 dives over both the prelims and the finals) to finish second in this year's Zone B Diving Platform Finals in Auburn, Alabama. She joined a record-number of Panthers at this year's NCAA Championships as a total of six FIU student-athletes competed in six events during the four-day event.
 
Softball continued its impressive play with a three-game sweep of Conference USA foe North Texas this past weekend. The sweep extended FIU's current winning streak to a school-record 12-straight as the Panthers improved to 26-6 (3-0 C-USA) this season. The Panthers pitching staff allowed just one earned run and nine hits during the series while collecting 22 more strikeouts to become the first school in C-USA this season to record 200-or-more pitching strikeouts (206). Three Panthers hit .500 or more over the weekend series. Sophomore Jackie Schoff went 6-for-11 (.545) with three runs scored and two stolen bases versus the Mean Green. Stephanie Texeira, the reigning C-USA Player of the Week, hit 3-for-6 (.500) with four walks, three runs scored and three RBI. Joining Schoff and Texeira was Araceli Peralta, who went 2-for-4 with three sacrifice hits and two runs scored.
 
Women's tennis had a dominant week, shutting out all three of its opponents, while extending its current winning streak to 13 matches. The 13-match winning streak is the longest since the 2009 season (13-straight). Ranked No. 24 in the Oracle/ITA Women's Tennis National Rankings, the Panthers (15-1) have shut out 10 opponents this season, including five-straight. FIU is a perfect 10-0 at home and owns the best overall record in C-USA. The Panthers' only loss this season was to the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators back on Jan. 29. 
 
FIU is led by sophomore Andrea Lazaro, who is ranked No. 28 in the Oracle/ITA Women's Tennis Individual Rankings. The native of Barcelona, Spain, is 11-1 in this spring and owns a career record of 41-13 (28-2 in dual matches). With 17 overall singles wins this season, Lazaro is joined by freshman Ulyana Grib (18-4) and sophomore Maryna Veksler (19-4) for the team lead in victories. 
 
Track and field's Gabrielle Rains broke a 31-year-old Canadian record this past weekend at the Hurricane Invitational. Rains, a freshman from Sherwood Park, Alberta, set a new record in the discus with a throw of 53.10m, surpassing the previous Canadian under-20 record of 52.52m held by Michelle Brotherton on May 29, 1986. Rains finished second in the event and was one of 10 top-three finishes for FIU at the Invitational.
 
Beach volleyball, which entered the weekend ranked No. 15 in the DiG Magazine Collegiate Poll, went 4-1 at the Tiger Beach Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Panthers opened the tournament with a perfect 3-0 day on Saturday, dropping only one match as FIU defeated Spring Hill, 5-0, UAB, 5-0, and Houston Baptist, 4-1. The following day, FIU faced a pair of top 25 teams, dropping a hard-fought battle with No. 10 LSU, 3-2, and defeating No. 16 Tulane, 4-1. 
 
Baseball registered a 3-2 record during the week, sweeping Stetson in a two-game, midweek series.
 
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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. 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 180 bachelor'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, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.