Match Details
FIU 3, Florida Atlantic 1
Records: FIU 2-6, 1-1 C-USA, Florida Atlantic 9-5, 0-2 C-USA
Friday, September 29 | 7 p.m. | Boca Raton, Fla. | FAU Arena

The Basics

-        After surviving an epic 31-29 opening set and a letdown in the second, the FIU volleyball team regained its composure to win its first Conference USA match of the year, 3-1 (31-29, 15-25, 25-19, 25-18) at Florida Atlantic Friday night.

-        The win improves the Panthers to 2-6 overall and 1-1 in C-USA. With one neutral-site win earlier this year, this was FIU's first true road win of the season.

-        The first set featured five lead changes and 18 ties, with FIU never losing the lead by winning eight-straight tiebreaking points from 21-all to the end of the set. Up 30-29, the set-point kill came from junior Sheyanne Sullivan (Miami, Florida / Southwest Miami HS / Santa Fe CC), one of her 10 in the match.

-        FIU boosted three players into double-digit kills. Sullivan, along with junior Margherita Bianchin (Traviso, Italy) had 10, and the team-high 11 kills came from senior Jennifer Ene (Carrollton, Texas)

-        The Panthers led in blocks (12-8) and had fewer service errors (12-4).

-        Bianchin had 10 digs, while the match-high mark came from libero Helene Thelle (Tovsrod, Norway), who collected 15.

View from the Bench
"It's all about the energy," said FIU Head Coach Rita Buck-Crockett. The freshmen came in and played hard and they didn't stop when it got tight. We played to win this time and not to lose as we had been."

"After our mental lapse in the second set, we went into the locker room and I reminded the upperclassmen to get the winning mindset back and to play with pride. I am proud of the way they played tonight."

Stat of the Match
The Panthers sided out the Owls at a .684 clip, meaning FIU won the point on FAU's serve at that rate in the final two sets, killing rally chances for a comeback.

Next Up
FIU will finish off the road C-USA weekend on Sunday at 2 p.m. Eastern at UAB.

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/.