MIAMI, Fla. - The FIU women's volleyball team is traveling this weekend for its first Conference USA road matches of the season. They will take on Western Kentucky University on Friday, Sept. 30 and Middle Tennessee State University on Sunday, Oct. 2.
Friday, Sept. 25 at WKU (14-2, 2-0 C-USA)
Sunday, Oct. 2 at MTSU (11-4, 0-1 C-USA)
The Panthers (3-12, 0-2 C-USA) dropped their Conference USA home opener last weekend against UTEP in five sets. They would go on to get swept by North Texas the following match.
After two games in conference play, outside hitter
Emily Meyer is pacing the team with 24 kills.
Alyssa Wissinger is not too far behind with 20. Against UTEP, setter
Sarah Nading recorded 39 assists which is her career high.
She collected 66 assists in both matches combined and is averaging 9.10 assists per set which is sixth best in all of Conference USA.
Libero, Kate Turner, is leading the team with 229 digs and collected 27 in the first two conference games. She continues to be one of the top liberos in C-USA averaging 4.40 digs per set which is the fourth best mark in the whole conference.
SCOUTING WKU:
WKU was selected as the 2022 preseason favorite in Conference USA by the league's 11 head coaches. The Hilltoppers enter Friday's match with a perfect 2-0 record in conference play this season. They are coming off back-to-back sweeps against UAB and MTSU. They continue to be a top team in the conference sitting at second place with a 14-2 record.
WKU is led by one of the top players in the conference, outside hitter Paige Briggs. She leads the Hilltoppers with 217 kills and is second in C-USA averaging 4.06 kills per set.
Three slots below in that category is her teammate, Lauren Matthews. The Hilltoppers' fifth year middle hitter was chosen as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year. She has collected 198 kills this season and is averaging 3.67 per set which is fifth best in the conference.
The third player from WKU to be selected to the 2022 Conference USA Preseason Team is middle hitter Katie Isenbarger. She is fourth on the team with 71 kills and this trio shows why WKU received 9 out of 11 first places votes in the preseason rankings.
Series History: WKU leads 3-0
SCOUTING MTSU:
Middle Tennessee has an impressive 11-4 record even after dropping their conference opener against WKU. They were picked to finish 8
th in the preseason conference rankings but still had senior Marley Banton on C-USA preseason team.
The defensive specialist leads MTSU with 231 digs so far this season. She is eighth in the conference averaging 3.89 per set. Offensively, outside hitter Adri Rhoda headlines MTSU's volleyball team with 153 kills and leads the whole conference with 40 service aces. MTSU features a balanced attack on offense and has five players with more than 100 kills so far this season.
Series Lead: MTSU leads 29-11
UP NEXT
After these two games on the road, the Panthers return to Miami for one game on Friday, Oct. 7 against the University of Alabama at Birmingham at 7:00 p.m. ET. FIU will travel to North Carolina right after Friday's match to take on Charlotte in a Sunday afternoon matchup on Oct. 9 at 1:00 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.
