FInal Stats (PDF)

MIAMI (Oct. 11, 2013) – The FIU volleyball team (8-9, 2-3 C-USA) defeated the UAB Blazers (13-8, 2-3 C-USA) 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 26-24) on Friday evening on Lime Court at U.S. Century Bank Arena.

The victory snapped a three-match losing skid for the Panthers, who picked up their sixth home win of the season.

Set one saw the Panthers take a 1-0 lead following a 25-23 advantage over the Blazers. FIU was led by sophomore Lucia Castro with six kills and a hitting percentage of .500 in the opening frame. Redshirt junior Jessica Egan had 12 helpers to guide the Panthers to the early 1-0 edge.

The Panthers following the set one victory with a 25-15 win in set two to go up 2-0. FIU jumped out to a 10-5 edge and never looked back. Redshirt Ksenia Sukhareva led all Panthers with five kills in the game followed closely by senior Kimberly Smith with four. FIU held UAB to a .158 hitting percentage, forcing the Blazers to commit six errors. Egan added 10 more assists in the set to increase her total to 22 heading into the break.

Set three was a tightly contested battle. With the scored tied at 24-all, FIU rattled off two-straight points to pick up the 26-24 set victory and 3-0 match win. Sukhareva notched six more kills in the set including the go-ahead point at 25-24. A hitting error by UAB ended the match to give FIU its second C-USA victory on the year. Egan notched 12 assists in the set to total 34 for the match.

FIU finished the match hitting .244, while UAB registered a clip of .127. The Panthers held an 11-5 edge in blocks, while UAB notched four aces to FIU's two. Sukhareva led all Panthers with 14 kills on 38 attempts (.211 hitting percentage), while Castro notched nine kills on 29 attempts (.241 hitting percentage). Senior CeCe Spencer tallied eight total blocks (one solo and seven assisted). Making her first career start at libero, Adriana McLamb led the way with 17 digs. 

The Panthers next host C-USA foe Tulsa on Sunday, Oct. 13. The match is set for 1:00 p.m. ET. Tickets can be purchased by logging onto FIUSports.com or by calling the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU volleyball news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics). The official FIU Athletics hashtag for the 2013-14 athletics year is #PantherNation.
 
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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 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 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s 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. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/