Match Details
UTSA 3, FIU 2
Records: FIU 5-15, 3-9 C-USA. UTSA 11-13, 9-3 C-USA.
Sunday, November 5 | 1 p.m. | Miami | Ocean Bank Convocation Center

-        FIU nearly won its third-straight game, but could not hold onto an early two-set lead and lost in five (23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-10) to visiting UTSA Sunday afternoon at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

-        The Panthers honored four outgoing seniors playing in their final career home game, giving the team the energy and emotion to jump out and win the first two sets. FIU had five blocks and three service aces to aid in the opening-set win. The Panthers then produced 15 kills and hit for .306 and never trailed to win the second set.

-        The third set saw UTSA sideout the Panthers on 16 of their 21 serves, preventing extended runs to win by five.  

-        UTSA took the emotion out of the match in the fourth set, jumping out to a 6-0 and 8-2 lead, but the Panthers came roaring back to tie the score at 10 and take a 20-16 margin, but the Roadrunners scored nine of the set's final 13 points for the four-point victory to force the fifth-set tiebreaker.   

-        Both teams had a three-point lead in the final set, but the Roadrunners scored the last five points to pull out the victory.  

-        Sophomore Sidney Henderson (Chicago, Illinois) produced a career- and match-high 16 kills. She added even digs.

-        Senior Taija Thomas (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) added 13 kills and a couple of blocks, with junior Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy) contributing 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks.

-        Defensively, sophomore libero Helene Thelle (Tolvsrod, Norway) led all players with a career-best 23 digs.

-        Freshman setter Molly Feldmeth (South Pasadena, California) dished out 35 assists, adding six kills and nine digs.  

Stat of the Match
There were 34 ties and 15 lead changes, though the Panthers never trailed in the second stanza.

FIU concludes the regular season on the road next weekend. The Panthers play at Middle Tennessee on Friday at 7 p.m. before a 2 p.m. first service Sunday at Southern Miss.

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/.