MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (Nov. 22, 2013) - The FIU volleyball team fell in five sets (2-3: 25-22, 21-25, 24-26, 25-23, 5-15) to the No. 3 Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Championship on Friday night.

Sophomore Lucia Castro had a team-best 19 kills, which is one kill shy of her career-best and finished with a double-double for the second-straight match. Sophomore Gloria Levorin tallied 16 kills, while senior Kimberly Smith added 13 kills. Junior Carolyn Fouts had a team-best 21 digs. Smith led with 10 blocks and also finished with a double-double, while Castro finished with seven blocks. FIU hit .177, going 58-of-181 for the match and out-blocked Tulsa, 30-16.

FIU took set one, 25-22. The Panthers jumped ahead, 6-1, off three attack errors from Tulsa and a block and kill by Castro, which forced a Golden Hurricane timeout. A service ace from Castro gave FIU a 6-point, 8-2, lead before a kill by Smith and service ace from sophomore Adriana McLamb made it 10-4. Another Castro kill forced Tulsa to take its second timeout of the set, with the Panthers leading, 13-6. After evening the score at 15-all, Tulsa went ahead, 17-16. The teams continued to trade points until a Gluchowicz kill and a Smith block gave FIU two-straight points and a 23-21 lead. On match-point, Smith's third kill of the set finished it for the Panthers. Castro led FIU with five kills and a block.

Tulsa tied it at 1-all with a 25-21 set two win. After Tulsa scored the first two points of the set, FIU rattled off four-straight for a 4-2 lead. Redshirt junior Jessica Egan notched her second block of the night in the sequence. The Golden Hurricane went on a 9-5 run to lead by five points, 13-7. Levorin stopped the temporary skid with back-to-back blocks, to cut the deficit to 13-9. Trailing 23-18, junior Silvia Carli protected the net, blocking the Tulsa shot, making it 23-19, heading into a Golden Hurricane timeout. Coming off the timeout, Gluchowicz tallied a kill, but Tulsa took the set, 25-21.

Tulsa took the third set, 26-24, after jumping ahead, 10-6., and took a 2-1 match lead. A kill by Gluchowicz and service ace from freshman Emily Loftus pulled the Panthers within three, 11-8. After falling, 15-11, FIU brought it within two points off a Castro kill and another Loftus service ace. Gluchowicz's kill off senior Jessica Mendoza's serve would tie the score at 17-all. Mendoza's service ace gave FIU its first lead, 18-17, since leading 1-0 earlier in the set. The two squads went back-and-fourth for points until a kill and block by Levorin gave FIU a 24-23 lead.

FIU tied the match at 2-2, courtesy of a 25-23 set four win. The Golden Hurricane forced an FIU timeout after the Panthers fell behind, 6-4. Out of the break, kills by Levorin and Carli evened the score at 6-all. An attack error by Tulsa gave FIU its first lead of the set, 10-9. A kill by Castro and block by Egan pushed FIU ahead by three points, 14-11. Tulsa committed a service error to put the Panthers ahead, 20-19. Following a Golden Hurricane timeout, Smith's kill off a set from Egan gave FIU a 21-19 lead. Back-to-back kills from Gluchowicz and Castro put the Panthers up, 23-20, and ultimately forced a fifth set for the second-straight night.

Tulsa took the fifth set, 15-5, after beginning the set by going on a 10-2 run. Back-to-back kills by Castro and Levorin cut the deficit to 13-5.