Tallahassee, Fla.– The 16
th ranked FIU beach volleyball team heads north to open the 2023 campaign at the Seminole Beach Bash hosted by No.2 Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. from Feb.25-26.
The pairs that will be competing in the tournament are:
Roberta Ribeiro/
Lucie Pokorna
Giada Bianchi/
Alice Pratesi
Rachele Mancinelli/
Milica Vukobrat
Lisa Luini/
Emily Meyer
Athina Dimitriadis/
Zuzanna Bielak
Anna Davis/
Serah O'Keefe
Ariana Castro/
Madison Horton
The Panthers will open the season with duels against No.20 University of Washington on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 11 a.m., followed by No.19 University of South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. The Panthers close out the first day of the tournament at 4 p.m. when they take on Coastal Carolina.
FIU will play FSU at 10:30 am to start the second day of the Seminole Beach Bash, and then wrap up the tournament when they face No.13 Cal Poly at 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 26.
KEY RETURNERS
Conference USA's 2023 Preseason All-Conference Team selections
Roberta Ribeiro and
Giada Bianchi lead a Panther squad that went 22-11 in 2022 and finished the year ranked 16
th nationally.
Bianchi earned AVCA Second Team All-American honors and AVCA Flight One honors last season and recorded a 24-8 overall record as No. 1 pairing with Paige Kalkhoff as the 24 victories led the Panthers. Bianchi was named to the 2022 C-USA All-Conference First Team.
Ribeiro returns for her third season with the Panthers after posting a 16-12 overall record in 2022. In her first season with the Panthers, Ribeiro went 23-7 overall and was named to the CCSA All-Conference Team and was an AVCA First Team All-American.
NEW PANTHERS
The group traveling to Tallahassee will feature some new faces for the 2023 season including
Lucie Pokorna,
Alice Pratesi, and
Milica Vukobrat.
Pokorna is a senior transfer from the University of New Orleans and was named the 2022 Southland Conference Beach Volleyball Pair of the Year alongside Ania Esarte. She recorded an impressive 27-6 record at flight one including wins against No. 5 LSU and No. 21 Tulane. She also earned Southland Conference 2022 Beach Volleyball All-Academic Team.
Pratesi is a 5'9" graduate student from Rome, Italy and transferred from Long Beach State University after three seasons. Last season, Pratesi was an All-Big West First Team selection after posting an 18-17 overall record in her final season at Long Beach State. She recorded nine wins over ranked opponents and her 16 wins in flight one is tied for fourth most in a single season in Long Beach State's program history.
Vukobrat is also a graduate student transfer and is from Novi Sad, Serbia. She spent all four years of undergrad playing at California State University, Bakersfield and was 17-11 as the No. 1 pairing exclusively with Cameron Solberg. Vukobrat earned First Team All-Big West honors for the second-straight year and finished tied for second all-time at CSUB with 41 career victories and tied for first with a .532 career win percentage. She recorded three wins over ranked pairs in 2022: No. 15 Long Beach State, No. 7 Grand Canyon, and No. 12 Long Beach State (Apr. 23).
UP NEXT
The Panthers return to Miami for their home opener against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi on Thursday, March 4 at the FIU Sand Volleyball Courts. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUVolleyball on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook or @FIUBeachVB on Twitter, @FIU_Beach on Instagram and @FIUBeach on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram
