Orlando, Fla. -  The FIU women's volleyball team (1-3, 0-0 CUSA) dropped their road contest in straight sets (14-25, 21-25, 23-25) against the UCF Knights Thursday afternoon inside The Venue at UCF.

The Knights (4-0, 0-0 Big 12) got out to an quick 3-0 lead in the first set and eventually grew to 10-6. FIU chipped away at UCF's lead thanks to back-to-back kills by outside hiter Jade Sadeiko. Sadeiko finished the match with a team-high nine kills and notched three digs.
 
UCF's offense took over from that point and they doubled their lead to 17-9 thanks to a 7-0 run. The Knights' lead was too much to overcome as the Panthers dropped the opening set 25-14.
 
In the second set, UCF was holding on to a slim lead early on until it grew to 13-8. The Panthers responded with their biggest run of the match rattling off six straight points to take a 14-13 lead.

Both teams exchanged points until it was tied 20-20 late in the set. FIU was able to come back and stay in it thanks to their offense being sparked by outside hitters Syra Tanchin and Mackenzie Morgan who each recorded three kills in the second set.
 
From that point, the Knights went on a 5-1 run to regain the lead and closed out the Panthers in the second set 25-21.
  
In the third set, it was FIU that stormed out of the gates taking a 7-4 lead after a 3-0 run. The Knights responded with their own 3-0 run to tie the set and from there, both teams did not have a lead larger than two points until UCF took a 20-17 lead.
 
Down by three, the Panthers went on a 6-2 run sparked by Sadeiko who recorded three kills during that span to take a 23-22 lead. UCF made one final push late in the third set and strung together three straight points for the comeback win and 3-0 match victory.
 
Tanchin and Travel Morris finished the match tied for second on the Panthers with five kills each while reigning Conference USA Freshman of the Week Gianna Tagoa'I led the team with 22 assists and picked up four digs. Starting libero Amber Beals led all players with 12 digs.

UP NEXT
FIU will stay in Orlando and participate in the "UCF Challenge" starting this Saturday, Sept. 2 against Alabama State at 11 a.m. ET and Mississippi State at 5 p.m. ET. The Panthers will wrap up their time in Orlando the following day against Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 1 p.m. ET. 

SOCIAL MEDIA
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