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BOCA RATON (Oct. 29, 2014) – The FIU volleyball team fell to the Owls of Florida Atlantic 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 28-30, 21-25), in an exciting midweek Conference USA match Wednesday evening from FAU Arena. With the loss, the Panthers falls to 6-18 overall and 3-8 in C-USA action. FAU improves to 16-8 and 7-4 in conference play.
 
FIU got another solid effort from junior outside hitter Lucia Castro as she posted a posted a match-high 20 kills. She posted a .304 percentage, coming just six errors on 46 swings. Castro, who only combined for 10 kills last weekend, picked up her 800^th career-kill tonight.  Joining Castro in double-digit kill figures was junior Gloria Levorin who contributed 12, which was one kill shy of tying her season-high.
 
Defensively, FIU had 14.0 team blocks led by freshman Brianna Gogins who had a match-high and career-best eight (seven assisted and one solo) on the night. Gogins out-blocked the entire FAU team as the Owls only posted seven team blocks. Joining Gogins on the front row defense were freshmen Lea Montavon with six (five assisted and one solo) and Jennifer Ene with five (all assisted). Junior Adriana McLamb led the Panthers one the back row with 18 digs.
 
Katarina Stepanovic led four Owl players in double-digit kill figures with 17 and a .333 hitting percentage. Kristina Rankovic had 15, while Kristi Tekavec and Brittney Brown added 13 apiece. Brown led all players in attack efficiency with a hitting clip of .360.
 
The match began with the two teams exchanging points over the first moments of play and continued almost halfway through the first frame. With the score set at 12-11, FAU served three consecutive points to pull ahead by four forcing to the Panthers to use a timeout. That 3-0 mini offensive spark was the deciding factor for the Owls as they took the first set, 25-22 and a 1-0 match lead.
 
The second set mirrored the first as it featured four ties just in the opening moments of play, but FAU went on a 4-0 run to take the lead midway through the frame. With the Panther trailing 10-6, a Castro kill gave them a spark as they went on a 6-2 run to tie the set up at 12-12, forcing the Owls to use a timeout. The Panthers took their first lead of the match following a Montavon and Ene block, but Florida Atlantic got right back in it with a kill. The set continued to go back and forth as the entire frame featured 12 ties and seven lead changes, but in the end FIU prevailed 25-20, tying the match 1-1.
 
The Panthers came out of the 10-minute hiatus on an offensive tear taking a 9-6 lead; however, the Owls responded with a 6-1 run to take a two-point lead. After FIU called timeout, it slowly but surely crawled back to tie the frame at 24 each. Both teams exchanged points over the next couple of plays, but FIU gained a one-point lead at 28-27. With the set on the line, an FIU bad set and back-to-back Owl kills gave FAU the second set, 30-28 and a 2-1 match lead.
 
Set four opened similar to the first two as both teams exchanged points over the first moments of play. With the score tied 3-3, FIU went on 5-0 run to force FAU to use a timeout. After the break, the Panthers continued to knock the socks off the Owls as they extended their lead to seven forcing Florida Atlantic to use another timeout. After the break, the Owls used a 9-1 run to take a one-point lead. The back-and-forth theme of the night continued as it featured four ties late in the frame. With the score tied at 20-20, Florida Atlantic finished the set on a 4-1 run to take the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
 
The Panthers return home this weekend for their final two-match home weekend of the season. FIU first takes on the Rice Owls on Friday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. ET, before hosting the Charlotte 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m.
 
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/.