MIAMI, Fla. (March 8, 2016) – The FIU beach volleyball team (5-1, 3-1 in CCSA), currently tied for 12^th in the national rankings, travels to Manhattan Beach, California this weekend for the East Meets West Invitational, March 11-12. On Saturday, March 11, they will compete against No. 1 USC at 1:30 (ET) and host team, No. 4 UCLA at 6:30 p.m. (ET). On Sunday, March 12, they will face No. 6 Long Beach State at 1 p.m. (ET) and Cal Poly at 5 p.m. (ET).
 
FIU is coming off of an impressive 5-1 start to its season last week. The Panthers went 2-0 in Boca Raton, Florida, against Webber International (W, 4-1) and Florida Atlantic (W, 4-1), and 3-1 at the UNF Beach Invitational in St. Augustine, Florida against South Carolina (L, 3-2), North Florida (W, 5-0), UNCW (W, 5-0) and the College of Charleston (W, 4-1), with several pairs going undefeated the entire weekend. Newcomers Taija Thomas and Margherita Bianchin, FIU's No. 5 pair, started the season 6-0, as well as the No. 4 pair of Estefanie Bethancourt and Anabela Sataric.
 
SCOUTING No. 1 USC: The Trojans have started the 2017 season with a 2-0 record, defeating No. 4 UCLA (3-2) and Pepperdine (4-1) at the Pepperdine Kick-Off on March 4. FIU is 0-1 all-time against the Trojans.

SCOUTING No. 4 UCLA: The Bruins are coming off an evenly split opening weekend at 2-2. UCLA defeated CSU Bakersfield (5-0) and Cal Poly (4-1) on March 2. They were upended by Pepperdine (2-3) and No. 1 USC (2-3) on March 4 at the Pepperdine Kick-off. The Bruins hold a 1-0 lead all-time against the Panthers.

SCOUTING No. 6 LONG BEACH STATE: The 49ers are undefeated after 2017 opening weekend, with consecutive victories against Irvine Valley (5-0), CSU Bakersfield (5-0), Cal State Los Angeles (5-0) and No. 9 Stetson (3-2). FIU is 0-1 all-time against the 49ers.

SCOUTING CAL POLY: The Mustangs come into the East meets West Invitational with a record of 2-4. On March 2, Cal Poly defeated CSU Bakersfield (4-1), but fell to No. 4 UCLA (4-1). The Mustangs went 1-3 over the past weekend, as they picked up a 4-1 win against Pacific, but fell to No. 14 Stanford (4-1), California (3-2), and Saint Mary's (3-2). The meeting between the Mustangs and the Panthers will be a first.
  
First serve is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. (ET), Saturday, March 11 against USC on Manhattan Beach. 

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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/.