Youngsville, La. - The No. 2 seeded FIU Panthers will take on the No. 7 seeded Missouri State Bears in the opening round of the Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championships on Sugar Beach in Youngsville, Louisiana.
Date: Thursday, April 24
Time: 11:00 a.m. ET
Site: Youngsville Sports Complex at Sugar Beach
History: FIU leads 2-0
FIU comes into the tournament on a five-match win streak, and are winners of six of their last eight matches. The Panthers are led by their top duo in senior Giada Bianchi and graduate student Reka Orsi Toth, with the pair leading FIU in wins with a 26-3 (9-3 vs ranked) record, with every win coming on court one.
Court two is held down by two veterans in junior Lisa Luini and graduate student Alice Pratesi. The pair is 17-8 (6-6 vs ranked) on the year, all of which came on court two. Junior Zuzanna Bielak and graduate student Lucie Pokorna have been mainstays on court three all season. The duo has the second most wins on the team with a 21-6 (6-4 vs ranked) overall record. 19 of the pairs' wins on the season have come on court three.
Graduate student Lauren Huggins and sophomore Kendra Brown will be the pair on court four for the Panthers, with the duo achieving two wins over ranked a opponent so far this season, both of which came against in-state rival Florida Atlantic. Court five will be held down by junior Zoe Cahill and senior Hania Taduran. The pair have played eight matches together this season, coming into the tournament with a 3-5 record.
Scouting Missouri State
The Bears saw their best season in program history come into fruition during the 2024 campaign, coming into the CUSA Tournament with a 24-5 record, the most wins in CUSA in just their first season in the conference. Missouri State started the season with a 10-0 record, and ended the season with a 9-0 record as well.
Missouri State has swept in 15 matches, their most in program history, and went 230-91 in the 321 sets played this season, again a program record. The Bears' Becca Bach and Manuela Niemeyer have won matches on court one with a 16-10 record, while MacKenzie Steele and Amanda Cleary have gone 19-9 together on court two.
Olivia Muriel and Erin Eschleman have the second most wins on the team together, racking up 22 wins on the season and ending with a 22-6 record. On court four, Kenzi McSpadden and Allyson Larkin have achieved a 12-2 record, and on court five Brooke Plessner and Maddie Schrandt went a team-best 25-3. The pair was ranked as the fifth best, fifth flight in the country by CollegeBeachVB.com
The two teams have played each other just twice in their respective histories, with FIU winning both matches. The most recent matchup came in the 2023 season, with FIU taking the match 4-1. The one win is the only time in program history that Missouri State has taken a point against a ranked opponent.
The winner of the matchup will go on to face the winner of 3-seed Florida Atlantic and 6-seed UTEP in round two, while the loser will head to the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Starting in round two, every match will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
For more information on the 2024 Conference USA Beach Volleyball Championships, visit https://conferenceusa.com/tournaments/?id=511&path=wbvball
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