FIU made a valiant comeback and outlasted Delaware 3-2 at Panther Fest on Friday night at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

The Panthers rallied from down 2-1 in sets to defeat the Blue Hens 21-25, 27-25, 26-28, 25-18, 15-9.

FIU swept its three matches at Panther Fest to improve to 5-1 on the season. Delaware dropped to 3-2.

The Panthers and Blue Hens played a taut back-and-forth match with sets two and three having to go to extra points. FIU took the final two sets by racing out to commanding leads.

In fourth set the Panthers jumped on the Blue Hens 14-3 at the outset before winning 25-18. In the decisive fifth set the Panthers raced to a 6-1 lead and never trailed to clinch the match with a 15-9 win.

FIU held Delaware to a .064 hit percentage in set four and a -.111 hit percentage in the fifth set.

Senior Margherita Bianchin posted a triple-double and freshman Ronja Klinger posted a double-double to fuel FIU.

Bianchin had 15 kills, 18 assists and 14 digs. Earlier in the day, Bianchin had a double-double notching 18 kills and 12 digs against Chicago State on Friday morning.

Ronja Klinger led FIU with 18 kills and had 18 digs. Klinger hit .310 for the match.

Nina Petranovic added 12 kills and Sidney Henderson had 10 kills.

Abbie Hughes had 35 assists to lead the Panthers in that department. Lina Bernier led FIU with 29 digs. Sheyanne Sullivan added 10 digs.

Dorina Klinger had six blocks and Chelsea Hudson had four blocks.

Up next FIU hits the road for the first time in the 2018 season. The Panthers head to Orlando to participate in the UCF Tournament beginning Friday, Sept. 7.

FIU will play UCF, Wofford and UIC in the two-day event.