MIAMI (November 7, 2017) -- FIU volleyball completes the regular season this Thursday and Saturday, with Conference USA games at Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss. The Panthers' game at Middle Tennessee will be widely available on beIN Sports, and starts at 7 p.m. The Southern Miss season finale will begin at 1 p.m. Eastern.
 
The Panthers are 9-25 in the all-time series versus Middle Tennessee, though the two teams have split the last four meetings.
 
FIU sits at 5-15 on the season, 3-9 in Conference USA. The Panthers have won three of their last five contests, losing on Sunday to UTSA in five sets in the home finale.
 
The Panthers kills leader, Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy), has a 3.00 kills-per-set average this season. Her kills average rises to 3.04 in C-USA play. Senior Mariana De Paula Silva (São José dos Campos, Brazil) sits fifth in C-USA with 1.12 blocks per set, while sophomore libero Helene Thelle (Tolvsrød, Norway), is fifth in the league with 3.89 digs per C-USA contest.
 
The Blue Raiders are 7-21 overall and 2-10 in the league. They are second in league-games only with 1.70 blocks-per-set. Dora Peonia leads MT with 2.79 kills per set. She is second in C-USA with 0.49 services aces-per-set in conference games only.
 
Saturday's opponent, Southern Miss, sits at 17-11 overall, 7-5 in C-USA. The Golden Eagles are fourth in the league in kills (13.84 per set) and digs (14.6 per set).
 
The Panthers are 3-3 all-time against USM, but have lost the last three in the series.
 
Eagle Kylie Grandy (3.91) is fourth in the league in kills-per-set in conference play, while Sarah Bell's 11.33 assists per set are fifth-best in C-USA action this season.
 
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).
                                                                                                                    
#######
 
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/.