Pictured: Senior Marija Prsa (Photo Credit: Richard Lewis)

BOX SCORE (PDF) / CUMULATIVE STATISTICS (PDF)

MIAMI, Fla. (Oct. 5, 2012) – The FIU volleyball team dropped a 3-1 (25-13, 12-25, 25-17, 25-19) decision to Sun Belt Conference foe Louisiana on Friday night at U.S. Century Bank Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 5-13 (2-4 SBC), while the Ragin' Cajuns improve to 10-10 (2-4 SBC).

The squads split the first two sets, with UL coming away with a 25-13 win in the opening stanza and FIU evening the match score by way of a 25-12 set victory in the second period.

In set three, the Panthers ran out to an early lead before the Ragin' Cajuns rattled off 10-straight points to go ahead, 15-9. FIU kept fighting, but the deficit was too great, and UL went on for a 25-17 set win, taking a 2-1 lead for the match.

The Ragin' Cajuns held a 21-16 advantage in set four, and the Panthers registered back-to-back points to get to within three at 21-18. Following a UL timeout, the Ragin' Cajuns got both points back, going ahead by five at 23-18. Senior Marija Prsa put one more point on the board for FIU, bringing up a 23-19 score, but UL tallied the final two points of the set to come away with a 25-19 set win and a 3-1 match victory.

Prsa led the FIU offense with 16 kills against just two errors in 37 total attempts for an attack percentage of .378. Senior Ryanne Milligan registered a team-leading 14 assists, while redshirt senior Renele Forde chipped in with 12 helpers. Forde also contributed a squad-best and career-high-tying two service aces on the night.

Freshman Lucia Castro (5 BA, 1 BS), sophomore Silvia Carli (4 BA, 2 BS) and junior Kimberly Smith (6 BA) led the FIU blocking corps, as the Panthers out-blocked the Ragin' Cajuns, 16-8, for the match. The two solo stops for Carli mark a career high, as do the five block assists and six total blocks for Castro. Leading the Panthers in the digs category for the evening was sophomore Carolyn Fouts with 17 digs.

FIU will return to action next weekend when the Panthers hit the road for a pair of SBC contests at WKU (Oct. 12, 7 p.m. ET) and Middle Tennessee (Oct. 13, 8 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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