MIAMI (Sept. 4, 2014) - FIU (1-3/0-0 C-USA) continues its season with a trip to the 2014 USF Invitational in Tampa, Fla., Friday and Saturday, September 5-6. The Panthers open the tournament on Friday evening at 7 p.m. ET, against the tournament host, the USF Bulls. FIU will then close out the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 6, against Buffalo at 11 a.m. ET before its final match against South Carolina State at 5 p.m. ET.  

FOLLOW THE PANTHERS ONLINE
Livestats: FIUSports.com
Live Audio: None
Live Webcast: GoUSFBulls.com
Television: None

PANTHER QUICK HITS
• FIU head coach Rita Buck-Crockett is in her second season with the Panthers and eighth overall as a head coach. With a 1-2 record this season, Buck-Crockett has a 14-20 record at FIU, bringing her career record to 63-141.
• Junior Lucia Castro led FIU with 49 kills, averaged 3.27 kills-per-set and added 40 digs tournament last week on 20 attempts with three errors ... she ranks seventh in the conference in kills.
• Junior Gloria Levorin averaged 2.27 kills-per-set, had a team-best .379 hitting percentage and added nine blocks (all assisted) in the four matches ... Levorin hit a career-high .533 against UCF, posting nine kills on 15 attempts with only one error ... Levorin currently ranks fourth in C-USA in hitting percentage (.379).
• Senior Martyna Gluchowicz averaged 2.33 kills and 2.67 digs-per-set as she played all six rotations for the Panthers in all four matches of the tournament … Gluchowicz led the Panthers with two double-doubles in the tournament after posting 16 kills and 11 digs in the win against Western Carolina, and 12 kills and 13 digs against Northeastern ... she also added a team-high six aces.
• True freshman Jennifer Ene made her presence known up front this weekend as she recorded nine blocks in the four-day tournament at UCF … five of her nine blocks were against Northeastern … she added two, two-block matches, on Friday against Western Carolina and then on Saturday against UCF … Ene also added 30 kills this weekend and a .288 hitting percentage (30-9/73).
• True freshman Lea Montavon averaged 1.87 kills-per-set after finishing the event with 28 total kills.
• After recording a career-high 45 assists against Western Carolina, sophomore Anabela Sataric averaged 9.33 assists-per-set for the tournament (140 total).
• As the starting libero, Adriana McLamb led the Panthers with 43 digs in the four matches to average 3.31 digs-per-set ... the Wesley Chapel Fla., native also served four aces for the weekend.
• Junior Maria Coukoulis had 16 digs and two aces in the tournament.

SCOUTING USF
The USF Bulls came into the weekend with a record of 0-3. In their last outing, the Bulls gave No. 14 San Diego State a battle in Purdue's Mortar Board Premier finale, but ultimately fell in straight sets. USF opened the tournament with losses to No. 8 Purdue (0-3) and LSU (1-3).
USF is led offensively by junior Erin Fairs who is averaging 3.30 kills-per-set through three matches. Fairs had 11 kills in all three matches last weekend, and added 15 digs in the loss against LSU. She also averages a team-best 3.30 digs-per-set. Junior Natalia Soares leads the team with 5.50 assists-per-set, but freshman Alex Mendoza is in a close second, averaging 4.80 assists-per-set.
Head coach Courtney Draper completed her second season with the Bulls, recording a 17-15 overall record and fourth place finish in The American in 2013. Draper led a young USF team to a 6-3 conference road record, improving a team who won just two conference matches away from home the year before. Draper turned the Bulls into one of the top defensive teams in the conference, as USF led The American in blocks and finished second in digs-per- set. Draper also developed 2013 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Erin Fairs.
Friday's match between FIU and USF will mark the 36th meeting all-time between the two schools and the first since 2012 when the Bulls posted a 3-0 win over the Panthers. FIU is 17- all-time against FIU.            

SCOUTING BUFFALO
Following a 0-3 loss to Ole Miss last Saturday, Buffalo enters the USF Invitational with a 2-2 record. The Bulls opened the season by winning two of three matches at the UB Invite, posting wins against Siena (3-0) and Canisius (3-0), but falling to Lehigh (0-3).
Juniors Tahleia Bishop and Amber Hatchett lead the team in kills averaging 3.75 and 3.33 kills-per-set, respectively. Bishop, a preseason All-MAC selection, also adds 36 digs (3.00 digs-per-set) and six blocks (0.50 blocks-per-set). In addition, junior Megan Lipski has 2.50 kills-per-set, while sophomore Megan Lin dishes out 11.67 assists-per-set and freshman Nikki Bozinoski has 5.33 digs-per-set. 
Reed Sunahara takes over the reins of the Buffalo volleyball team in his first season as head coach.
Saturday's match between FIU and Buffalo mark the first ever meeting between the two schools.

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA STATE
South Carolina State also comes into the weekend with a 0-4 record after falling to UT-Martin (0-3), Murray State (0-3), Southern (1-3) and Alabama State (0-3) at the Alabama State Tournament in Montgomery, Ala.
Junior Marissa Lawrence led the squad in the tournament recording 31 kills in the four matches to average 2.38 kills-per-set. Freshman setter Victoria Rushlin is averaging 6.30 assists-per-set, and redshirt freshman Tyler Ockleberry leads the team with 4.00 digs-per-set.
Amy Bambenek is in her second season as the head coach of the Lady Bulldogs and has a 6-22 overall record with the team. Saturday's match between FIU and South Carolina State will mark the fifth meeting all-time between the two schools. The Panthers defeated the Lady Bulldogs, 3-0, at the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, S.C. FIU is 4-0 all-time against South Carolina State.

NEXT FOR THE PANTHERS
Next week, FIU will travel to Brookings, S.D., to compete in the South Dakota State Challenge. The Panthers will take on North Dakota, South Dakota State and Iowa in the two-day tournament from the Frost Arena.

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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. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s anchor institutions, FIU is Worlds Ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/