MIAMI – No. 20 FIU finished the CSUN/Colorado Mesa Tri-Meet on Tuesday afternoon, going 1-1 against the two teams, dropping their first match against the host team CSUN, before sweeping Colorado Mesa.

The Panthers began with a hard-fought, 3-2 loss to California State - Northridge in their first matchup of the invite. FIU's first win came on court one, with sophomore Ella Gray and senior Sofie Vogel battling to a victory in straight sets, 21-11 and 21-18. Sophomore Katarina Drozd and freshman Brianna Luoma, the Panthers' winningest pair of the year so far, completed another win in three sets. The duo won a 21-11 battle in set one before dropping set two, but bounced back for a 15-9 victory on set three to clinch the court.

The Panthers bounced back in their second match of the day, defeating Colorado Mesa in a clean 5-0 sweep. Katarina Drozd and Brianna Luoma continued their winning ways on court two, securing 21-10 and 21-16 victories to claim the flight. On court four, junior Annika Castellanos and senior Arianna Franklin rebounded after dropping the first set, winning the next two 21-10 and 15-11. Junior Julia Panko and senior Ola Chudzik clinched court three in straight sets, 21-17 and 21-9. Ella Gray and Sofie Vogel also triumphed in straight sets, 25-23 and 21-9. Finally, junior Kendra Brown and senior Zoe Cahill wrapped up the match for FIU with a 21-12 and 21-17 victory on court five.

 

UP NEXT

The Panthers will stay on the road to participate in the East Meets West Invite at ATX Beach in Austin, Texas on March 21-22. FIU will start off against No. 2 LMU, before playing No. 11 Arizona State on day one. Day two will see the Panthers play No. 9 Cal before finishing the tournament against No. 13 Grand Canyon.

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