Miami, Fla. -  The FIU women's volleyball team started Conference USA action over the weekend and played against the University of Texas at El Paso (8-7) Friday night, and the University of North Texas (8-9) Sunday afternoon. 

The Panthers (3-12) dropped their conference opener against UTEP in five sets (25-22, 14-25, 25-21, 17-25, 12-15). It was an impressive effort by the Panthers as it was the first match they play this season that went to the final set. 

FIU and UTEP exchanged wins in the first four sets. FIU won the first and third, while UTEP won the second and fourth. In the last and decisive set, the Miners edged out the Panthers 15-12 to win the match. Sarah Nading was off to a great start in conference play against UTEP. She finished with 39 assists,  a new career-high. She previously notched her career high in assists earlier this season against Rutgers on Sept. 17. 

The Panthers were back on the court Sunday to face North Texas. UNT was coming off a commanding win in their first Conference USA game against Florida Atlantic University. The Mean Green rode that momentum into Ocean Bank Center against FIU. UNT defeated FIU 3-0 (13-25, 24-26, 18-25). North Texas came out strong in the first set with a 7-1 lead. FIU was playing from behind the rest of the set and at one point, UNT's lead reached up to 14. 

The Panthers' offense responded well in the second set and were leading 12-6 midway through. North Texas chipped at FIU's lead and took advantage of critical errors made by the Panthers. UNT took the lead late in the second set. FIU was leading 22-18 but the Mean Green closed out the set on an 8-2 run to take a 2-0 match lead. North Texas would improve its conference record to 2-0 after winning the third set against FIU 25-18. 

The Panthers were led by Athina Dimitriadis and she finished with a team-high 11 kills. Alyssa Wissinger also finished in the double-digits with 10 kills. Katie Turner led all players on both teams with 11 digs. 

UP NEXT
FIU travels for its first Conference USA road games of the season this weekend. The first game of the road trip is this Friday, Sept. 30 against Western Kentucky University at 7:00 p.m. From there, they will go on to play Middle Tennessee Sunday, Oct. 2 at 2:00 p.m.

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