Match Details
Marshall 3, FIU 2
Records: FIU 2-13, 1-7 C-USA, Marshall 9-14, 4-4 C-USA
Friday, October 20 | 6 p.m. | Huntington, W.Va. | Cam Henderson Center

The Basics

-        For the third time this season, FIU played a tiebreaking fifth set, but FIU could not steal the road win at Marshall in the 3-2 defeat (21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 15-7) Friday night in Conference USA volleyball from Huntington, West Virginia.

-        FIU led by a set twice (1-0 and 2-1), but each time the Thundering Herd stayed alive to even the match.   

-        Two Panthers, junior Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy) and freshman Aleksandra Grigoreva (Moscow, Russia), both recorded double-doubles. Bianchin had her team-leading seventh of the season with 16 digs and 11 kills. Grigoreva had 24 assists and 15 digs for her fifth of the year.

-        FIU was led in kills by senior Taija Thomas (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) who tied for the match-high with 15 kills.

-        The Panthers were able to win the point on 61 percent of Marshall's serves in the opening set, and 54 percent in the third, but Marshall stormed back by "siding out" the Panthers on 64 percent of serves and 85 percent in the fifth set. The final tally for sideout percentage was 50 percent for FIU and 54 percent Marshall.

-        FIU produced 12 blocks to Marshall's 10 on the night.

Stat of the Match
Despite the loss, the Panthers had more kills than Marshall in the first three sets and fewer errors in the first four.                                                                                                                                   

Next Up
FIU finishes the road weekend at LA Tech on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUVolleyball) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU softball 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 eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.