DE LAND, Fla. (Sept. 11, 2015) – The FIU volleyball team (5-2) defeated the Stetson Hatters (2-6), 3-2 (26-24, 15-25, 25-21, 23-25, 15-10) during the first day of the Stetson Invitational on Friday. The win marked second-straight for the Panthers as the team has won five of its last six outings.
During the match,
Lucia Castro became the seventh player in FIU history to reach the 1000-kill plateau. Kill No. 1000 came in the fourth set to give the Panthers an 18-17 advantage. For the match, the Ponce, Puerto Rico, native had 17 kills to give her a career total of 1,007.
In the first set, FIU took a 1-0 lead with a 26-24 win over the Hatters. In a set that saw 11 ties a three lead changes, the Panthers used a 7-2 run late in the set to hold on for the advantage. Stetson responded, taking set No. 2, 25-15, as the Panthers registered just seven kills and committed five attacking errors.
FIU regained its advantage with a 25-21 win in the third set and hit .364, registering 15 kills on 33 total attacks with just three attack errors. Stetson evened the match at 2-2 with a 25-23 win in the fourth set. The Panthers hit .091 for the set, committing 10 attacking errors.
Set five went in favor of the Panthers, 15-10, to give FIU the 3-2 win.
Castro led FIU with 17 kills and 18 digs for her third double-double of the season. The outside hitter recorded a hitting percentage of .233 and had five total blocks. Senior
Gloria Levorin finished the afternoon with a .478 hitting percentage, while notching 13 kills. The 6-foot-2 middle blocker notched seven total blocks. Freshman
Katie Friesen tallied 37 assists in the match with seven kills and seven digs. Senior
Adriana McLamb totaled a season-high 16 digs versus the Hatters.
On the afternoon, FIU recorded a .216 hitting percentage, while the Hatters registered a clip of .210. With 10 service aces, FIU registered 14.0 blocks, forcing Stetson to commit 27 attacking errors.
The win improves the Panthers to 26-13 all-time versus the team from DeLand as FIU has won five-straight over the Hatters.
FIU will wrap up the Stetson Invitational with a match versus Mercer on Saturday, Sept. 12. First serve is set for noon.
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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 Bank Field 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/.
