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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Oct. 24, 2014) –The FIU volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (11-25, 13-25, 20-25) Conference USA loss to the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers on Friday night from E.A. Diddle Arena. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 6-16 overall and 3-6 in C-USA action. The Lady Toppers improve to 21-5 and 9-1 in conference play.
WKU, who posted its second straight-sets victory over the Panthers this season, out-hit FIU .337 to .034 in the match, as the Lady Toppers posted 12 blocks compared to two by the Panthers. They Lady Toppers out-dug the Panthers, 53-39.
Leading the offensive attack for FIU was freshman
Jennifer Ene who posted nine kills. Juniors
Lucia Castro and
Gloria Levorin added six and five kills, respectively. Ene led the team with a .412 hitting percentage, posting her nine kills on 17 swings with two hitting errors, got go along with one block assist. Senior
Martyna Gluchowicz and junior
Adriana McLamb paced the Panthers with 10 digs each.
Western Kentucky's Heather Boyan led all players in the match with 14 kills, while Alyssa Cavanaugh and Sydney Engel had seven and six kills, respectively. Georgia O'Connell led all players with 13 digs.
WKU got on the board first, taking an early 2-0 lead. The Lady Toppers quickly extended the gap to 8-4, forcing FIU to call timeout. Despite the breakage in play, Western Kentucky continued to roll as they went on a 7-1 run which forced the Panthers to call another timeout. The Lady Toppers finished the frame with a 10-6 run to take the first set 25-11 and a 1-0 match lead.
The Panthers got off to a hot start after kills from Levorin and Gluchowicz followed by a WKU attack error which gave them an early 3-0 advantage. However, WKU quickly responded going on a 9-3 run that forced FIU to call a timeout as they pulled in front 9-6. The Lady Toppers continued to remain in front, going ahead by as many as 12 late in the frame before an Ene kill broke the dry spell. It was too little too late for FIU and WKU took the second set 25-13 and a 2-0 match lead.
A Western Kentucky attack error got the Panthers on the board first, but a Castro service error tied the score at 1-1. The two teams exchanged points over the next couple of plays as the third frame featured 14 ties and nine lead changes. With the score tied at 19-19 late in the frame, the Lady toppers went on a 6-1 run to take the third set 25-20 and the match 3-0.
The Panthers remain on the road this weekend as they travel to North Texas on Sunday. First serve is set for 3 p.m. ET from the Mean Green Volleyball Center.
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 4-00 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
