MIAMI (April 6, 2017) – The No. 13-ranked FIU beach volleyball team (17-8, 7-3 CCSA) will travel to Tallahassee, Florida, for the Staybridge Suites Invitational April 7-8 at Florida State University. The Panthers will open
Friday's play with a match at
10 a.m. against No. 11 South Carolina and finish with a contest against TCU at
1 p.m. FIU will play just one match
on Saturday when it faces the "other" Panthers, No. 10 Georgia State at
2:30 p.m.
FIU is coming off a dominant weekend, finishing the fifth annual Surf & Turf Invitational with a 4-2 mark. The Panthers turned in victories over New Orleans (5-0), No. 12 Arizona State (4-1), No. 18 Tulane (4-1), and No. 14 Florida Atlantic (3-2).
Looking at the Gamecocks: No. 11 South Carolina (15-5, 6-3) is coming off a 4-0 sweep last weekend at the UNCW Beach Blast. The Gamecocks defeated Coastal Carolina, Mercer, the College of Charleston and host team Seahawks, all with a 5-0 mark. FIU is 3-2 all time against New Orleans, and fell to the Gamecocks 3-2 earlier this season in the UNF Beach Invitational in St. Augustine, Florida on
March 4. First serve is schedule for
Friday at
10 a.m.
Looking at the Horned Frogs: TCU (13-7) posted a 4-0 mark last weekend at the ULM Bayou Beach Bash with victories over Texas A&M-Corpus Christian (5-0), Houston Baptist (4-1), Central Arkansas (4-1) and Louisiana-Monroe (4-1). Overall, the Panthers lead the all-time series 1-0, with the only match in the series resulting in a 5-0 victory during the 2016 season. The two teams will face off on
Friday at
1 p.m.
Looking at the Panthers: No. 10-ranked Georgia State (14-9, 4-3 CCSA) concluded play at their home tournament last weekend, the GSU Diggin' Duals, with one loss to LSU (3-2), and three victories over Lincoln Memorial (5-0), UAB (4-1) and Jacksonville State (5-0). FIU is 4-3 all-time against the Georgia State, with the match-up set for 2:30 p.m.
on Saturday.
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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 offer 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 $8.9 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/.
