Photo Credit: Richard Lewis

BOX SCORE (PDF) / CUMULATIVE STATISTICS (PDF)

DENTON, Texas (Oct. 19, 2012) – Behind a stellar blocking effort, the FIU volleyball team defeated Sun Belt Conference foe North Texas, 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-20), on Friday night at the Mean Green Volleyball Center in Denton,  Texas. With the victory, the Panthers improve to 6-16 overall and 3-6 in league action, while the Mean Green fall to 18-10 overall and 4-5 in SBC play.

The opening set saw five tie scores and three lead changes. FIU held a 23-20 advantage before NT rattled off three-straight points to bring up the final tie score of the stanza at 23-23. Freshman Gloria Levorin would then tally a kill to put FIU in set-point position at 24-23, and a score by redshirt senior Renele Forde gave the Panthers a 25-23 set win and a 1-0 match lead.

In the second set, FIU held a four-point advantage at 19-15 before back-to-back kills from senior Marija Prsa and junior Kimberly Smith pushed the Panthers' lead to 21-15. An FIU service error would then put the score at 21-16, but the Panthers bounced back with three-consecutive points, bringing up set point at 24-16. NT managed one more point before Forde passed to Prsa for a kill, giving FIU a 2-0 lead for the match, by way of a 25-17 set-two victory.

The third set saw the Panthers take a 19-14 lead, but the Mean Green would not go away, tallying four-straight points to get within one at 19-18. The teams traded points to make it 20-19 before FIU scored four-consecutive points of its own to go ahead, 24-20, bringing up match point. Forde would then pass to Smith for a kill, as FIU came away with a 25-20 set win and a 3-0 match victory.

The FIU blocking corps came out in full force against NT, as the Panthers out-blocked the Mean Green, 14.5-6.0, holding the opposition to an attack percentage of .046. Junior Brittany Spencer posted a team-high six blocks, while Smith, Forde, and freshmen Lucia Castro and Gloria Levorin each added five blocks.

Prsa led the FIU offense with 16 kills against six errors in 33 attempts (.303), as the Panthers hit .321 as a team on the night. Forde registered five kills and was errorless on the night across seven attempts (.714), while Castro tallied six kills against just one error in 11 total attempts (.455). Also hitting over .300 for the match were Smith (9 kills, 4 errors, 16 attempts – .312) and Levorin (6 kills, 3 errors, 10 attempts – .300).

Forde recorded a season-high 33 assists against the Mean Green, and sophomore Carolyn Fouts posted a team-best two service aces. Levorin notched a squad-high five digs on the night.

FIU will return to action on Sunday, Oct. 21, when the Panthers take on ULM in Monroe, La. First serve is slated for 2 p.m. ET.

About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports, and is a proud member of the Sun Belt Conference and an affiliate member of Conference USA (men's soccer). Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools 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 is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. FIU is a member of the Sun Belt Conference and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.

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