FIU Match Notes | C-USA Notebook 

MIAMI (Oct. 2, 2014) – The FIU volleyball team (3-12, 0-2 C-USA) will play a pair of Conference USA home matches this week. The Panthers open the weekend on Friday night with a match against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (14-4, 2-0 C-USA), with first serve slated for 6 p.m. at Lime Court from FIU Arena. The weekend closes with a Sunday afternoon match against the UAB Blazers (4-12, 1-1 C-USA). First serve between the Panthers and Blazers is scheduled for 1 p.m.  

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Weekend Home Promotions
Friday night's match against WKU will serve as Res Life Roar. FIU Housing and Residential life will track attendance for eight athletic events throughout the year. The hall with the highest percentage of residence in attendance at the end of the year will win a pizza party.

The team will sign post-match autographs on both Friday and Sunday.
 

Entering the weekend, the Panthers hit .134 as a team, while averaging 11.1 kills-per-set, 1.05 aces-per-set, 15.2 digs-per-set and 2.15 blocks-per-set. FIU's opponents hit .211 with 13.1 kills-per-set. 12.0 assists-per-set, 1.60 aces-per-set and 2.42 blocks-per-set.
 
Freshman Lea Montavon registered her second double-double on the year during the match at Marshall with 11 kills and 10 digs. She garnered Crimson-White all-tournament honors after averaging 1.89 kills-per-set and 3.11 digs-per-set in the three matches at Tuscaloosa. For the year, Montavon averages 1.85 kills-per-set and 1.95 digs-per-set. Junior Lucia Castro continues to lead the Panther offense ranking 10^th in the conference with 3.09 kills-per-set. She also leads the squad with 3.11 digs-per-set and has tallied five double-doubles on the year. In addition, Castro also ranks eighth in C-USA with 3.51 points-per-set. Sophomore Anabela Sataric dished out 18 assists at Marshall last Sunday and now has 456 assists this season to bring her career total to 686. She is currently on pace to record her 1,000^th career-assist this season. Sataric is eighth in the league with 8.29 assists-per-set.  
 

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (12-4, 2-0) enter the week riding a three-match winning streak following a 3-2 victory over Rice on Sunday. The Hilltoppers enter the match first in C-USA and 31st in the country with a .268 hitting percentage, while ranking sixth in the conference with 13.27 kills-per-set. WKU is holding opponents to .186 hitting percentage, as the team is averaging 2.48 blocks-per-set, a mark that also ranks first in the league.
 
C-USA Preseason Player of the Year Noelle Langenkamp leads the Hilltoppers with a .357 hitting percentage and 2.47 kills-per-set, while freshman Alyssa Cavanugh and junior Haley Bodway chip in with 2.85 kills-per-set and 2.52 kills-per-set, respectively. Heather Boyan leads the team with 61 blocks to average 0.98 blocks-per-set, Georgia O'Connell averages a team-high 4.39 digs-per-set and Jessica Lucas has a team-best 10.24 assists-per-set.  

Friday's match will mark the 37th time the Panthers and Hilltoppers have faced off, with WKU leading the series, 28-8. In the last meeting between the two schools, then-17th ranked Western Kentucky posted a 3-0 win over the Panthers who they met in the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Bowling Green, Ky. FIU's Marija Prsa led the way with a team-high 12 kills, Lucia Castro added seven and Gloria Levorin chipped in with three. WKU's Heather Boyan and Langenkamp had a match high 13 kills apiece. 
 

UAB (4-12, 1-1 C-USA) comes to Miami off a 3-2 loss at Samford on Tuesday and will play at Florida Atlantic on Friday night. The Blazers are eighth in C-USA with a .191 hitting percentage while ranking 10th with 11.48 kills-per-set. UAB is ninth in the league with 2.02 blocks-per-set, but ranks last with a .251 opponent's hitting percentage.

The Blazers are led by senior Sara Rishell, who ranks eighth in C-USA with a .347 hitting percentage. Sophomore Amber Treace ranks 10th in the league with 7.86 assists-per-set.

Sunday's match between the Panthers and the Blazers will mark the second meeting all-time between the two teams. Last season FIU swept UAB at home (25-23, 25-15, 26-24). 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. Ksenia Sukhareva led all Panthers with 14 kills on 38 attempts (.211 hitting percentage), while Lucia Castro notched nine kills on 29 attempts (.241 hitting percentage). 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.
 

Next week the Panthers return to the road for Conference USA matches at Charlotte and Louisiana Tech. FIU opens the weekend against the Charlotte 49ers on Friday Oct. 10 with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. ET Halton Arena. The weekend wraps up with a 2 p.m. ET match against the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters from the Thomas Assembly Center (TAC). 
 
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/.