MIAMI (October 26, 2017) -- FIU plays just one contest this week, a Friday night home tilt against rival Florida Atlantic in Conference USA volleyball action, with first service at 7 p.m. The two teams played back on September 29, with the Panthers getting their first road win of the season, 3-1.
 
FIU is 3-13 overall, 2-7 in C-USA this season. The Panthers are coming off a road league win at LA Tech Sunday, needing a 16-14 win in the fifth set to take their first 3-2 win of the season.  
 
Junior Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy) leads FIU with 177 kills and an average of 3.00 per set this season. She recorded a pair of double-doubles last weekend, capped off by a career-high 23 kills to go with 18 digs in the win in Louisiana. Bianchin leads the squad with eight double-doubles this season. Senior Taija Thomas (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) is just 10 behind Bianchin with 167 kills, an average of 2.88 per set. Both players are among the top four on the team in total blocks. Sophomore Helene Thelle (Tolvsrød, Norway) paces FIU with 209 digs, or 3.54 per set. Her per-set average puts her sixth in C-USA overall, while her 3.52 per-set average is sixth-best in league games only. Mariana de Paula Silva (São José dos Campos, Brazil) leads FIU with 46 total blocks, and her 1.07 blocks-per-set average in C-USA games only puts her eighth in the conference.
 
The Panthers are fifth in Conference USA for digs and service aces average, collecting 14.71 digs per set, and 1.31 aces per set.
 
FAU enters the contest at 13-7 overall, 4-4 in league games. The Owls have won three of their last four contests. FAU enters the contest leading the league with 14.21 assists per set and third in the league in attack percentage (.252). Setter Ivone Martinez is responsible for 12.66 assists per set, tops in C-USA. The Owls have a pair of student-athletes, Sigourney Kame (3.97) and Abbi Reid (3.14), who average better than three kills per set.
 
Following Friday's contest, the Panthers will step out of conference with a Tuesday night home contest against Bethune Cookman. That is ahead of the final home games of the regular season, Friday, November 3 against UTEP and Sunday, November 5 versus UTSA.
 
Live stats for Friday's contest are available at FIUSports.com.
 
For volleyball ticket information, contact the FIU Ticket Office at 305-FIU-GAME or log onto www.FIUSports.com.
 
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/.