MIAMI (Oct. 17, 2013) – The FIU volleyball squad hosts Conference USA foe Florida Atlantic on Friday, with first serve being set for 6 p.m. on Lime Court at US Century Bank Arena. The Panthers then travel to Tulane to close out the weekend, with a 1 p.m. match time set for Sunday.
Keeping Up with the Panthers
Live stats will be available for both of this weekend's matches and can be accessed via the FIU volleyball schedule page at FIUSports.com. A free live video stream for all FIU matches will be available via PantherVision, by clicking
HERE, and fans can also follow the action on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball).
Last Time Out
The Panthers lost in heart-breaking fashion Tuesday night, dropping a five-set match to FGCU, 3-2 (16-25, 52-22, 52-23, 22-25, 18-16). FIU was led offensively by sophomore
Lucia Castro's 20 kills and senior
Kimberly Smith's 17 kills. The Panthers jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set, courtesy of redshirt junior
Ksenia Sukhareva and sophomore
Adriana McLamb's five digs and redshirt junior
Jessica Egan's 12 assists. FGCU tied it up in set-two, 1-1, and went ahead, 2-1, in set-three. Set-four went in the Panthers' favor, with Smith recording eight kills with a .577 hitting percentage. The two squads traded points throughout the fifth set, but FIU ultimately lost, 18-16, and lost the match, 3-2.
For the season, Sukhareva (205 kills, 2.97 kps) and Smith (201 kills, 3.00 kps) lead the Panther offense, while junior
Jessica Mendoza owns a team-leading mark of 205 digs (2.93 dps), with McLamb close behind with 165 digs (2.39 dps). Sukuhareva also leads in service aces (15) and Smith anchors the FIU defense with 67 total blocks (1.10 bps).
A Look at Florida Atlantic
With Fernanda Nelson at the helm for her second season, the Owls are 9-11 (1-5 C-USA), with a 2-5 record on the road. Florida Atlantic comes to Miami after losing five-straight, most recently to UAB, 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-19), on Sunday. The Owl offense is spearheaded by Alessia Pizzoccheri (173 kills, 2.51 kps), Ivana Bulajic (144 kills, 2.15kps) and Kristi Tekavec (142 kills, 2.18 kps), while Jelen Jovanovic leads her team in assists (651, 9.04 aps). Nathalie Rosado has a team-best 246 digs (3.46 dps), while Kat Stepanovic bests the team in blocks (61 blocks, 0.97 bps). Jovanovic has 17 service aces.
Series History
The intrastate rivalry is close, with Florida Atlantic holding the slight advantage, 24-23.
Interesting Side Notes
Tomorrow's match is set to be a family reunion for freshman setter
Anabela Sataric and her sister, Darija, who is in her senior year with the Owls. The Swiss sisters were both members of VBS Konis, where they finished second in the Swiss U21 Swiss Championships in 2010.
Scouting the Green Wave
In his fifth season with Tulane, Head Coach Sinsia Momic's team sits in first-place in C-USA with a commanding 18-2 (4-1 C-USA) record. Tulane is riding a five-game win streak, dating back to Sept. 29 against UTSA. Leading the way for the Green Wave is Tea Juric (268 kills, 3.94 kps) and Annie Shurtz (222 kills, 3.13 kps), along with Grace Weaver, who has a team-best 325 digs (4.64 dps). Mel Mandelbaum leads Tulane with 19 service aces, with Juric notching 16 service aces. Sarah Strasner leads the team in blocks (60 blocks, 0.99 bps).
Series History
FIU is 2-1 all-time against Tulane, winning back-to-back matches in 2010 and 2011 to hold the slight edge in the series.
Next Up
FIU next travels to East Carolina (Oct. 25) and LA Tech (Oct. 27) before hosting Rice (Nov. 3) in the team's second-to-last home match of the season.
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.
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/
