MIAMI (August 24, 2017) -- FIU Volleyball will play its opening weekend of matches starting Friday, when the Panthers play three times at the FGCU/ Hilton Garden Inn Invitational in Fort Myers, Florida. FIU takes on Georgia Southern for a 10 a.m. season debut, before tangling with host FGCU Friday night at 7 p.m. The Panthers finish off the weekend with a 2 p.m. contest against IUPUI on Saturday afternoon from Alico Arena.
 
FIU comes off a 9-19 campaign last year, with a new look and a new attitude. The team has been practicing for the past two weeks and is hungry to play someone in another school's gear.
 
"At this point, we pretty much have our starting lineup, but within that starting lineup there are a lot of variations where we can get people rest and get people experience which is part of the bigger picture," said FIU Head Coach Rita Buck-Crockett, on where the team is heading into the opening weekend. "We need to both look at our depth and solidify our core group so we can see what we look like with different combinations of players out there. Ultimately, what we really want is wins."
 
In program history, the Panthers are 5-3 all-time against Georgia Southern, playing as conference foes in the late 90's. After winning the first five meetings in the series with FGCU, the Panthers have lost the last six to the Eagles, since 2012. Like they did in 2012, the Panthers and Eagles will play twice this season, with the Eagles returning a home contest to Miami on September 19. In the only meeting in school history, FIU defeated IUPUI in five sets, back in 2002.
 
The Panthers started 6-8 in the non-conference portion of the schedule, grabbing a pair of wins in the final two non-conference weekends. FIU will play away from home in the first three weekend tournaments before hosting the FIU Invitational and FGCU prior to the start of Conference USA play. That home opener will be against South Alabama on September 15.
 
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/.