MIAMI (August 4, 2017) -- Two home contests against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago highlight the 29-game regular-season schedule for the FIU Panthers volleyball program, the team announced this week. FIU takes on three teams that qualified for the postseason a year ago, the latter two coming on the friendly floor of Lime Court inside FIU Arena.
 
"I think our non-conference schedule is a good one to prepare us for the range of teams we will face in Conference USA and the tournament," said FIU Head Coach Rita Buck-Crockett. "We must experience all levels of competition during this part of the season. Our team will definitely be challenged throughout and we will definitely challenge some teams that meet us as well."
 
FIU will start away from home with three tournament weekends on the road, at FGCU opening weekend (August 25-26), at the Tiger Invitational in Nashville, hosted by Tennessee State the first week of September and at Coastal Carolina the following weekend. The Panthers take on Ohio State, the Big South champion and host Chanticleers and Notre Dame that weekend before the home debut.
 
The Panthers will host the FIU Classic on September 15-16, playing twice on each day. FIU hosts South Alabama at 12:30 p.m. on Friday and a key matchup with SEC foe Auburn at 6:30 p.m. that evening. On Saturday, FIU takes on Colonial Athletic Association champion James Madison at 12:30 p.m. and finishes the weekend with a 6:30 p.m. contest against Savannah State.
 
The six-game home stand continues with a Tuesday night tilt against FGCU and ends with the Conference USA opener, Sunday, September 24, against North Texas, at 1 p.m.
 
The 14-game league schedule features only one split weekend, meaning one road and one home game in the same weekend. The Panthers will host Marshall on Dig Pink night, Friday, October 6, starting at 7 p.m. The program will raise funds during Breast Cancer Awareness Month towards finding a cure.
 
The Panthers get defending C-USA champ WKU as part of a home weekend in the middle of October. FIU takes on Charlotte Friday night, October 13 before the Lady Tops visit for the Sunday, 1 p.m. contest.
 
The Panthers will close out the home schedule with a Texas two-step, hosting UTEP on Friday night, November 3, before the home finale against UTSA on Sunday the 5^th at 1 p.m. That weekend is also Homecoming on the FIU campus, providing volleyball friends and family a bevy of activity and events to attend.
 
FIU closes out the regular season on the road, with games at Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss prior to the C-USA Championships, hosted by WKU, November 17-19.
 
For volleyball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU softball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
                                                                                                                    
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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 eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.