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DENTON, Texas (Oct. 26, 2014) – The FIU volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (17-25, 17-25, 25-27) Conference USA loss to the North Texas Mean Green on Sunday afternoon from the North Texas Volleyball Complex. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 6-17 overall and 3-6 in C-USA action. The Mean Green improve to 15-9 overall and 6-5 in conference action.
 
The loss also snapped a seven-match winning streak FIU had against North Texas. The last time the Panthers lost to the Mean Green was back on Oct. 5, 2007.
 
North Texas dominated the offensive side of the net, posting 43 kills on the day. The Mean Green, who came into the match ranked third in the conference with a .234 hitting percentage, hit .187 in the match, as the Panthers posted eight blocks in the three sets. North Texas also had eight blocks on the day, but out-dug FIU 56-54.
 
Freshman Alex Lilliquist led the Panthers with a career-high eight kills, but was forced into three errors on 30 attempts. Junior Gloria Levorin added five kills while hitting .143 and Lucia Castro ended the match with four kills. Adriana McLamb had a match-high tying 15 digs, while Lilliquist added nine. Kiona McSwain dished out 17 assists and posted five digs.
 
For the Mean Green's balanced attack, the nation's kill leader Carnae Dillard had a match-high 18 kills with a .368 hitting efficiency. Hanna Forst and Chelsea Abii contributed seven kills each, while Amanda Chamberlain had six. Amy Henard had 39 assists, seven digs, two blocks and a kill.
 
The match opened with the two teams exchanging points, but a 6-1 Mean Green run gave them an 8-3 advantage that forced FIU to call an early timeout. The Panthers came out of the break going on a 6-2 run that pulled them within two, but NT quickly responded with back-to-back kills. FIU pulled within two points one more time that forced North Texas to use a timeout. The Mean Green came out of the timeout on fire going on a 7-0 run that forced FIU use another timeout. The Panthers got back on the board with a kill from Castro, but NT kill sealed the deal and the Mean Green took the first set 25-17 and a 1-0 match lead.
 
North Texas picked up right where it left off, taking an early 5-0 lead to open the second set. The Panthers responded with a 5-1 run to pull within a point, but the Mean Green pulled back ahead by as many eight points midway through the frame. However, the Panthers would not be tamed so easily as they pulled within three points two times late in the set, but could not get over that hump as they fell 25-17.
 
Following the 10-minute intermission, the two team would play a close third set, with 13 tie scores and four lead changes throughout the frame. With the Mean Green up 10-6, FIU would score four unanswered points to tie the set at 10-10. North Texas would answer right back with a 5-1 run, and take a 15-11 lead. FIU responded once again with four unanswered points to pull within one to force the Mean Green to call timeout. After the break, FIU scored the next two points to take its first lead of the day. The set continued to swing back-and-forth until the very end, but the Mean Green would take the set off back-to-back Dillard kills to earn the narrow victory, 27-25, and the match 3-0.
 
The Panthers remain on the road this week as they travel to Florida Atlantic for a mid-week match on Wednesday, Oct. 29. First serve is set for 7 p.m. ET from the FAU Arena ("The Burrow"). 
 
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/.