Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)
Photo Gallery
MIAMI (Oct. 5, 2014) - The FIU volleyball team snapped a 10-match losing streak with a 3-1 (25-13, 18-25, 25-23, 25-16) Conference USA win from Lime Court at FIU Arena Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Panthers improve to 4-13 and 1-3 in C-USA play, while the Blazers fall to 4-15 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
The victory snapped a 10-match losing streak for the Panthers, as FIU's last win came over four weeks ago on Sept. 6 against South Carolina State in the USF Invitational.
FIU's middle blockers had an outstanding game as freshman
Jennifer Ene led the way with a match-high 13 kills and a .381 hitting percentage. Junior
Gloria Levorin added 10 kills and a .500 percentage. Freshman setter
Kiona McSwain had a career-day posting a new high 38 assists to average 9.5 assists-per-set.
As a team, FIU out-hit the Blazers .255 to .165. After the Blazers posted a .333 hitting percentage in the second set, the Panther defense stepped up to hold the Blazers to a .237 mark in the third and a .025 number in the fourth. The Panthers combined for seven blocks in the match as Ene and senior
Martyna Gluchowicz led the way with three each.
Gluchowicz also led the Panthers on the back row with a match-high tying nine digs. McSwain also added a match-high tying nine digs to her 38 assists. She was only one dig shy of posting her first career double-double.
Kirana Hirini led the Blazers with 22 kills, while Alexis Howell and Leslie Ekpe had seven digs apiece.
FIU got off to a blazing start in the first set, jumping on the Blazers 11-5. The Panthers hit .476 in the frame off of 12 kills with only two errors against 21 attacks. FIU never trailed in the frame as it posted a 25-13 victory for a 1-0 lead in the match.
It was a different story in the second set as both teams exchanged points over the first moments of play. The frame was extremely tight as it featured five ties and two lead changes, but a 4-0 UAB run late in the set gave the Blazers the lead before taking it 25-18.
In the third set, the Panthers got back on the offensive as they posted a 25-23 win to take the lead in the match. Although FIU led the entire way, it was very close with three ties. The Panthers closed the set with an Ene kill that sealed the deal for the Blazers.
FIU wasted no time in the fourth quickly going ahead 9-4, forcing UAB to call a timeout. The lead would break open to as many as seven, before the Blazers slowly climbed back within two. However, FIU never lost focus and finished the set on a 12-5 run to close out the match in four sets.
Next weekend, FIU hits the road for a pair of matches, first taking on Charlotte (12-8, 1-2 C-USA) on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. ET before heading to Louisiana Tech (7-9, 0-3 C-USA) on Sunday, Oct. 12 for a 2 p.m. ET match.
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).
#
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/.
