BOCA RATON, Fla.– FIU Volleyball (2-1) allowed local rival Florida Atlantic (3-0) to hit at a .348 clip in a three-set sweep, falling in the Florida Atlantic Invitational finale.
Both teams came out firing, going swing-for-swing early in set 1. After an Owls service error to tie it at 9, the Owls went on a pair of 5-0 runs to gain control. The home team hit a sparkling .435, which FIU had no answer for, and won the set 25-13.
FIU looked to quickly bounce back in set two, as a couple of kills from
Tiyana Cisse made it 5-1 and 13-8, but an untimely 4-0 run for the Owls made it 13-12 before the teams kept trading points.
Chiara Fabbrini knotted it at 22-apiece, but the Owls won three of the next four points and stunned the Panthers despite 16 kills in the set 25-23.
Jillian Huckabey aided another great set start with a kill to make it 8-5 in the third, but the Owls continued to pull away.
Lana Sesar made it just a two-point deficit at 18-16, but that was as close as the Panthers got for the remainder of the set, losing 25-19 and 3-0 overall.
Huckabey and Fabbrini led the Panthers' attack with nine kills respectively, and
Rayne Williams had a trio of blocks in her season debut.
Ivona Lazovic (15) and
Mariana Silva (13) each contributed double-digit assists in the loss.
Up Next
FIU heads up to Jacksonville for the UNF Invitational, where it will play UNF (Thursday), Tulane (Friday) and Duke (Saturday).
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 Volleyball news. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.
