MIAMI, Fla. - The FIU women's volleyball team is traveling this weekend for its longest road trip of the season. They will take on Rice University on Friday, Oct. 21 and the University of Texas at San Antonio on Sunday, Oct. 23.
Friday, Oct. 21 at RICE (17-2, 7-0 C-USA)
Sunday, Oct. 23 at UTSA (7-12, 2-5 C-USA)
The Panthers (5-15, 2-5 C-USA) won their last match against MTSU last Friday to make it back-to-back home wins. It was a team effort to earn the victory and led by
Madison Morgan and
Sarah Nading.
Morgan is continuing her strong freshman campaign and recorded a career high, 17 kills, against the Blue Raiders. She is currently fourth on the team with 141 kills. In the same match,
Sarah Nading finished with 57 assists to break her own personal record for the third time this season.
With
Camila De La Rosa still out with an injury, Nading will get the bulk of the playing time as the setter and to her already impressive season. She has 461 assists this season and is averaging 8.56 per set which is sixth best in the conference.
Midway through conference play and, outside hitter
Emily Meyer is still pacing the team with 199 kills. She is seventh in the conference averaging 3.18 kills per set.
Athina Dimitriadis is not too far behind with 189 kills so far this season.
Libero,
Katie Turner, is leading the team with 353 digs and collected 29 in the last match against MTSU. She continues to be one of the top liberos in C-USA averaging 4.85 digs per set which is the second-best mark in the whole conference.
SCOUTING RICE:
Rice was selected to finish second in the 2022 C-USA preseason rankings. They are currently on pace to finish in that spot as they are second in the conference with a 17-2 record. Western Kentucky has the slight edge over Rice with a 19-2 overall record.
The Owls enter Friday night's match with a perfect 7-0 record in conference play this season. Rice and WKU are the only two teams undefeated in conference play. Rice had three players named to the 2022 C-USA Pre-season team: Anota Adekunle, Ellie Bichelmeyer, and Carly Graham.
Adekunle leads Rice with 215 kills to go along with a .401 hitting percentage which is second in the conference. She also cracks the top ten in the conference averaging 3.61 points per set. Outside hitter, Ellie Bichelmeyer, is still having a successful season with 163 kills, but that is good for fourth on the team. That shows the depth the Owls have on offense with four players recording at least 160 kills so far this season.
Fifth year player, Carly Graham, is one of the top setters in Conference USA. She leads Rice with 752 assists and is second in the whole conference in that statistic. She is also second in the conference averaging 10.03 assists per set and one of only two players in C-USA averaging double digits in that category.
Defensively, Rice is anchored by libero, Nia McCardell. She has played in every single set this season and leads the team with 382 digs. She has the slight edge over
Katie Turner to lead the conference averaging 5.09 digs per set.
Series History: Rice leads 7-1
SCOUTING UTSA:
The Roadrunners have a 7-12 overall record and have dropped their last three matches entering this weekend. They were picked to finish 9
th in the preseason conference rankings and had no players selected for the C-USA preseason team.
On offense, UTSA is led by Cansu Gunaydin with 190 kills. Middle blocker, Amanda Ifeanyi, is second on the team with 145 kills and is sixth in the conference with a .337 hit percentage. Setter, Courtney Walters, is having a successful season running the offense for UTSA. She leads the Roadrunners with 514 assists and is eighth in the conference averaging 7.34 per set. Another member of UTSA's volleyball team standing out in the conference is defensive specialist Ava Camacho. The freshman is leading the Roadrunners with 330 digs, and she is fifth in the conference averaging 4.46 per set.
Series Lead: UTSA leads 8-1
UP NEXT
After road trip, the Panthers will have a week off until they return to action for another match away from Miami. This will be a brief trip as they travel to Boca Raton, FL to take on Florida Atlantic University on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Panthers return to the Ocean Bank Convocation Center the following match on Sunday, Oct. 30 to take on the University of North Florida at 5:00 p.m. ET.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Instagram (
@FIUVolleyball), Twitter (
@FIUVolleyball), and Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUVolleyball) for all the latest Women's Soccer news.
General athletic news can also be found at
@FIUSports on Facebook and
@FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.
