C-USA Notebook

MIAMI (Oct. 16, 2014) – FIU (6-13/3-3 C-USA) will play a pair of Conference USA home matches this weekend. The Panthers open on Friday night with their annual Pink Match against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (6-15/2-5 C-USA), with first serve slated for 6 p.m. from Lime Court at FIU Arena. The weekend closes with a Sunday afternoon match against the Southern Miss Eagles (15-8/4-2 C-USA). First serve between the Panthers and Eagles is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.  
 
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Weekend Home Promotions
Friday night's match against Middle Tennessee will be the FIU volleyball team's "Dig Pink" match. The players will wear pink accessories, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Fans are also encouraged to show their support by wearing pink.
 
Following both matches, players will be made available to sign autographs.
 
Entering the weekend, the Panthers are one of the best defensive teams in the conference as they rank fifth in blocks (2.21 bps) and sixth in digs (15.29 dps). In addition, FIU is seventh in the league with 68 service aces on the year. The Panthers are currently on a three-match winning streak as they posted back-to-back straight-set road wins at Charlotte and Louisiana Tech and defeated UAB two weeks ago at home.
 
Lucia Castro averaged 3.83 kills-per-set at Charlotte and Louisiana Tech and continues to lead the club in kills with 207 to average 3.04 kills-per-set, which ranks 10^th in C-USA. Lea Montavon also paced the Panthers on the weekend with 19 total kills to average 3.17 kills-per-set last week, and is second on the team with 136 kills (2.00 kps) and adds 143 digs (2.17 dps). Kiona McSwain dished out 70 of FIU's 76 assists last weekend. The freshman has 132 assists on the year, good for 7.76 assists-per-set. Defensively, Martyna Gluchowicz tied her season-high 16 kills in both matches last weekend. The senior is an overall defensive specialist as she also has 40 blocks on the year.
 
Scouting Middle Tennessee
The Blue Raiders suffered a 3-0 loss to UAB in Bartow Arena Tuesday evening. Junior Chelsea Ross paced Middle Tennessee with 11 kills and passed Ashley Mead (2006-09) for sixth all-time in program history with 1,228 kills and counting.
 
The Blue Raiders own a 22-8 record in the all-time series against FIU while winning five of the previous six matchups. In the most recent meeting, the Panthers eliminated the Blue Raiders from the C-USA tournament in five sets.
 
Scouting Southern Miss
USM enters the week also riding a three-match winning streak following a 3-1 victory over Marshall on Sunday and will play Florida Atlantic on Friday night. The Eagles lead the league in kills with 14.16 kills-per-set and assists with 13.34 assists-per-set. Southern Miss is sixth in C-USA with a .212 hitting percentage, while ranking third in opponent hitting percentage at .169.  
 
The Eagles are led by Stephany Purdue and Quinci Hayward who rank seventh and eighth in the conference in kills with 3.35 and 3.33, respectively. In addition, Jasmine Crowell and Elise Ames are fifth and sixth in the league in hitting percentage. Crowell boasts a .361 mark, while Ames has a clip of .359.
 
Sunday's match between the Panthers and Eagles will mark the third meeting all-time between the two teams. Southern Miss leads the series, 2-0, following a 3-1 win over FIU in the most recent meeting last year in Hattiesburg.
 
What's Next
Next week the Panthers return to the road for Conference USA matches at Western Kentucky and North Texas. FIU opens the weekend against the Lady Toppers on Friday Oct. 17 with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. The weekend wraps up with a 3 p.m. ET match against the North Texas Mean Green. 
 
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).
 
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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 FIU Arena and Ocean BankField at FIU Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers 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 contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.