MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (March 11, 2017) - The No. 12-ranked FIU beach volleyball team (5-3, 3-1 in CCSA) had its three-match winning streak snapped, falling to the two-time defending national champion and current No. 1-ranked Trojans of USC, 4-1, on Saturday at the East Meets West Invitational at the Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, California. The Panthers concluded day one dropping a 4-1 decision to No. 4 UCLA.
The Panthers began the morning with a loss against the Trojans. FIU's No. 4 pair of
Anabela Sataric and
Estefanie Bethancourt defeated Joy Dennis and Jo Kremer (21-18, 21-11) bringing their season win streak to 7-0.
In its second match of the day, FIU faced the host Bruins of UCLA but fell short of a victory.
Katie Friesen opened at the No. 1 spot, seeing the sand for the first time this season, joining teammate
Katie Hogan. The duo dropped a 21-18, 21-9 decision to the sister-tandem of Megan and Nicole McNamara. The Panthers' No. 5 pair of
Margherita Bianchin and
Taija Thomas defeated Lily Justine and Chanti Holroyd of UCLA in a three-set thriller for the final game of the match (18-21, 21-19, 15-13) improving their record to 7-1 on the year.
The Panthers will battle No. 6 Long Beach State and Cal Poly tomorrow, Sunday, March 12.
(#1) USC def. (#12) FIU, 4-1
No. 1 Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes (USC) def.
Katie Hogan/
Federica Frasca (FIU) 21-9, 21-16
No. 2 Terese Cannon/Nicolette Martin (USC) def.
Lina Bernier/
Natalia Giron (FIU) 21-16, 21-10
No. 3 Abril Bustamante/Sophie Bukovec (USC) def.
Kari Peterson/
Morgan Crawley (FIU) 21-15, 21-11
No. 4
Anabela Sataric/
Estefanie Bethancourt (FIU) def. Joy Dennis/Jo Kremer (USC) 21-18, 21-15
No. 5 Jenna Belton/Katrina Kernochan (USC) def.
Margherita Bianchin/
Taija Thomas (FIU) 18-21, 23-21, 15-7
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2*, 4, 5
(#4) UCLA def. (#12) FIU, 4-1
No. 1 Megan McNamara/Nicole McNamara (UCLA) def.
Katie Hogan/
Katie Friesen (FIU) 21-18, 21-9
No. 2 Kamila Tan/Madi Yeomans (UCLA) def.
Helene Thelle/
Kari Peterson (FIU) – 21-14, 21-19
No. 3 Savvy Simo/Torrey Van Winden (UCLA) def.
Lina Bernier/
Natalia Giron (FIU) – 21-16, 21-13
No. 4 Elise Zappia/Izzy Carey (UCLA) def.
Anabela Sataric/
Estefanie Bethancourt (FIU) – 21-13, 21-17
No. 5
Margherita Bianchin/
Taija Thomas (FIU) def. Lily Justine/Chanti Holroyd (UCLA) – 18-21, 21-19, 15-13
Order of finish: 1, 4, 2*, 3, 5
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Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest FIU volleyball 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 seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A.Maidiqueand Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers more than 180bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. 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. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, theWolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA andhas over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit
http://www.fiu.edu/.
