Miami, Fla. -  The FIU women's volleyball team wrapped up its regular season with a win on senior day over Florida Atlantic University 3-1 (25-21, 25- 17, 19-25, 28-26) on Sunday afternoon at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center.

With the win today, the Panthers jumped from ninth place to finish the regular season in seventh place in the Conference USA standings and have qualified for the conference tournament.

The tournament will take place in Bowling Green, Ky. hosted by Western Kentucky University from Nov.18- Nov. 20.

The Panthers will play Rice University in the first round of the C-USA tournament. 
 
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the match after winning the first set 25-21. FAU was out to an early 3-1 lead until the Panthers responded with a 5-0 run to take a 6-3 lead. FIU's lead wouldn't hold. When the Panthers were leading 12-9, the Owls scored 7 consecutive points to take a 16-12 lead.
 
FIU had another run in them to take the set. When the score was 18-14, the Panthers rattled off a 7-0 run of their own to take a 21-18 lead. The Owls couldn't come back from that run by the Panthers and FIU took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Panthers went on an impressive scoring stretch in the second set that helped them take a 2-0 lead in the match. When the Panthers were leading early on 7-5, they went on a 12-1 run to lead 19-6. FIU had a comfortable lead from that point and secured the set winning 25-17.
 
The Owls would go on to take the third set winning 25-19. Both teams were trading points with numerous ties until FAU got the slight edge in the score midway through. Once the score was 15-14 in FAU's favor, they would not give up the lead from that point on.
 
FIU was still leading in the match 2-1 and they closed out the Owls in the fourth set winning 28-26. It was an extremely competitive set as no lead was safe. Both teams had numerous 3-0 runs but were quickly erased. FIU's final run was the deciding stretch of the match. The Panthers had their backs against the wall trailing 26-25 but turned the match in their favor closing it out with three straight kills by three different Panthers.

Middle blocker Athina Dimitriadis led the way for FIU with 14 kills and added three blocks. Outside hitter Jade Sadeiko was second on the team with 13 kills and had 5 digs. Sarah Nading led both teams with 50 assists and was second on FIU with 11 digs. Kira Givans was a spark off the Panthers' bench recording 12 kills. Libero Katie Turner capped off her senior day leading FIU in digs with 18.

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 Volleyball news. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.