FIU Notes

MIAMI (Oct. 28, 2014) – FIU (6-17, 3-7 C-USA) concludes its three-match road stint with a trip to intra-state rival Florida Atlantic (15-8, 6-4 C-USA) on Wednesday, Oct. 29 for 7 p.m. ET matchup. The Panthers look to snap a four-match losing streak and rebound from a loss to the Owls earlier in the season on Sept. 17.
 
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Live Webcast: FAUSports.com
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For the season, FIU is hitting .143 as team, while averaging 10.8 kills, 10.0 assists, 1.00 aces, 14.9 digs, and 2.21 blocks-per-set. The Panthers are one of the best defensive teams in the conference, ranking fifth in blocks (2.21 bps), sixth in opponent hitting percentage (.204) and seventh in digs (14.92 dps).  During C-USA action, FIU averages 2.39 blocks-per-set and 14.81 digs-per-set, good for fourth and fifth in the league.
 
Freshman middle blocker Jennifer Ene continues to make her presence known on the front row as she leads in the Panthers in C-USA action with a .333 hitting percentage. The Carrolton, Texas native also posts 2.08 kills-per-set and 0.72 blocks-per-set in conference play to rank second on the team. Ene led the Panthers last Friday night at Western Kentucky with nine kills.
 
Junior defensive specialist Adriana McLamb has stepped up in the back row as she leads the team with 2.87 digs-per-set. Last weekend she combined for 25 digs (4.17 dps) and two service aces.
 
Junior outside hitter Lucia Castro continues to lead the Panther offense with 247 kills (2.94 kps). She also is second on the team with 2.80 digs-per-set and has seven double-doubles on the year.  Castro has 798 career-kills and is climbing the career-kills ladder as she is 118 kills away from sneaking in the top 10 (916 - Jovanska Rosich, 1989-90). She would have to average 16.86 kills-per-set to get into the top 10 this season (excluding Conference Championship matches).
 
SCOUTING THE FLORIDA ATLANTIC OWLS
The Florida Atlantic Owls enter Wednesday's match riding a three-match losing streak, with their most recent loss coming from C-USA opponent Western Kentucky (3-1) last Sunday. The Owls are averaging 13.17 kills-per-set, while hitting .220. FAU is holding opponent to a .158 percentage and 12.0 kills-per-set to lead the conference and rank 31^st in the country. The Owls also have one of the best back rows in the league as they average 15.65 digs-per-set to rank third in C-USA.
 
In the contest against Western Kentucky, three Owls registered double-digit kill figures as sophomore Kristi Tekavek led the way with 12. Takavek was followed by juniors Katarina Stepanovic and Brittney Brown with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Brown leads the balanced Florida Atlantic attack with 2.69 kills-per-set. Stepanovic is right behind brown with a 2.32 kills-per-set and a .383 hitting clip that ranks second in the league and 37^th in the country. Senior Liene Mellupe has 251 digs this season and ranks ninth in C-USA with a team-leading 3.30 digs-per-set.
 
Wednesday's match will be the 52^nd time the teams have met at the net with the series tied 26-26 following FAU's 3-1 (16-25, 26-24, 18-25, 16-25) win on Sept. 17 in Miami. FAU head coach Fernanda Nelson is in her third season with the Owls, putting together a 35-44 record during her time in Boca.
 
NEXT UP
Following Wednesday's trip to FAU, FIU will close out the week at home with its final two-match home weekend of the season. The Panthers will first take on the Rice Owls on Friday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. ET, and the Charlotte 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. ET.
 
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/.