MIAMI (Nov. 16, 2013) – The FIU volleyball team (11-16, 5-8 C-USA) closes out the regular season at home versus North Texas tomorrow for a senior day matinee on Lime Court at U.S. Century Bank Arena. Match time is set for 1 p.m.
Keeping up with the Panthers
Live stats will be available for this weekend's match 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.
Last Time Out
FIU is coming off a five-set, 2-3 (18-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 13-15), loss to Florida Atlantic on Tuesday. Junior
Martyna Gluchowicz led the way for the Panthers with 16 kills and two service aces, while sophomore
Lucia Castro tallied 15 kills, 12 digs and a service ace. Sophomore
Gloria Levorin recorded 14 kills to the effort.
For the season, Castro (268, 2.82 kps), senior
Kimberly Smith (263, 2.74 kps) and redshirt junior
Ksenia Sukhareva (233, 2.88 kps) lead the Panther offense, while Mendoza owns a team-leading mark of 258 digs (2.61 dps) and is tied with Sukhareva for team-high in service aces (17). Smith also leads the FIU defense with 107 total blocks (1.07 bps).
Scouting the Mean Green
Under first-year Head Coach Andrew Palileo's direction, North Texas sits in fourth place in the Conference USA standings with a 16-12 record (8-4 C-USA). The squad is riding a four-game winning streak heading into Miami, most recently defeating UTEP, 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-21). Carnae Dillard spearheads the Mean Green offense with 403 kills (4.20 kps), while Karissa Flack's 220 kills (2.37 kps) and Hanna Forst's 210 kills (2.26 kps) close out the top three. Amy Henard is clear and away the leader in digs (1019 digs, 10.61 dps), while Windham (84) and Flask (79) are one and two for blocks. Five on the Mean Green have double-digit numbers in service aces; Shelby Tamura and Eboni Godfrey are tied for first with 24 apiece.
Series History
FIU has a strong, 11-4, edge all-time versus North Texas and holds a five-game win streak leading up to Sunday's matchup.
Senior Day
Sunday's match will be the final one at the Bank for Smith, Mendoza, redshirt junior
Jessica Egan and senior
CeCe Spencer. Fans should arrive early for the pregame ceremony.
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/
