MIAMI (November 2, 2017) -- The FIU Panthers volleyball squad wraps up its home schedule this weekend, with a Friday night contest against UTEP at 7 p.m., and a Sunday Senior Day game versus UTSA scheduled for 1 p.m. Both events will take place at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.
 
FIU is 4-14 on the season, with a 2-8 Conference USA record. FIU is 1-3 all-time against UTEP, dropping a five-set match in El Paso, Texas, last November 4.
 
The Panthers won their first home game of the season on Tuesday, in a 3-0 win over Bethune-Cookman. In that match, senior Taija Thomas (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) produced a career-high 18 kills. She is just three kills behind the team leader, junior Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy), and both have an even 3.0 kills-per-set average this season. Sophomore libero Helene Thelle (Tolvsrod, Norway) is fifth in Conference USA with a 3.68 digs-per-set average. She recorded 11 in the Tuesday win and leads FIU with 239 for the year.
 
UTEP enters play with a 5-19 overall mark and 2-9 in C-USA. The Miners beat Middle Tennessee on Sunday, ending a nine-match losing slide. The Miners have not won on the road this season in seven matches played.
 
UTEP's Macey Austin has 315 kills in 89 sets so far this season, with a kills average of 3.54, good enough for seventh in the conference.
 
The Roadrunners, Sunday's opponent, have a 9-13 overall mark, but sit fourth in the league with a 7-3 C-USA mark. They have won six of their last eight contests, including both home games last weekend, over UAB and LA Tech. UTSA is a perfect 5-0 all-time against FIU.
 
As a team, UTSA is third in C-USA with an average of 1.47 aces-per-set. They are one of only two teams with two players among the kills leaders. Brianna McCullough has 326 total kills and an average per set of 3.66, while teammate Marijeta Runjic has posted 301 on the season, or a 3.42 kills-per-set average. Thanks to all of those kills, UTSA setter Amanda Gonzales is one of just six setters with a double-digit average in assists, at 10.23 through 87 sets played.
                                                                        
Following the last two at home for the Panthers, FIU will finish the regular season on the road, at Middle Tennessee Thursday night before the regular-season finale on Saturday at Southern Miss.
 
Live stats and streaming links for the weekend's contests 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/.