FIU Women’s Volleyball Wins First Home Tournament

The FIU Women’s Volleyball team won their first two home games at  Panther Fest Friday, Sept. 6 through Saturday, Sept. 7 against the Stetson University Hatters and Hofstra University Pride.

Leading up to the home tournament, the Panthers had lost their three previous matches to Indiana University, Santa Clara University, and UT-Martin.

It was clear the Panthers were working through a new gameplan in the first set against the Hatters. Head coach Rita Crockett revealed that “due to some injuries, the team had to change the line-up [they] had been practicing all week”. The team lost the first set with a score of 16-26.

The Panthers took the first set loss to analyze the opponent’s offense and make line-up changes accordingly.

The substitutions proved effective; the team won the following three consecutive sets at the scores of 25-14, 18-25, and 19-25 for the first win of the season.

Fiorella Murillo, a sophomore player known more as a middle blocker or right side hitter, made more than half of her 19 kills of the game from the outside position. Sophomore setter and outside hitter Gina Lipscomb switched permanently to the outside after coaches discarded the modified 6-2 rotation used in the first set, making 14 kills.

“We kind of started playing chess,” said Crockett, “We matched Fiorella with their smallest blocker and moved Gina to the outside…I think we are going to keep her there.”

The team’s unified energy carried on to the second game that took place a couple of hours later at 6:30 pm against the Hofstra University Pride. The Panthers swept the game in three straight sets at the scores of 25-17, 25-18, and 25-22.

Lipscomb showed up yet again on the outside position with 13 kills; Abbie Hughes, a sophomore setter, played an amazing game with 32 assists and nine digs. 

From last season, the Panthers lost four starting senior players, meaning that they are still getting to know each other as a team. After winning the tournament, however, it seemed like team chemistry would not be a problem for the rest of the season.

“This team us great. We have a great culture, we have a great coaching staff. I think that we are adjusting and learning each other very well, though this is a new team,” said redshirt senior middle blocker Chelsea Hudson.

There was a meet and greet poster-signing with the team following their final match of the Pantherfest tournament. Fans were able to talk to the players, take pictures, and ask them about training and future games.

The Panther’s next home game will be Sunday, Oct. 6 against the Florida Atlantic University Owls as their next 8 games will be away.

“We always play well on the road and make sure to protect our house. It always feels good to be at home but we are warriors and we’ll play anywhere,” says Hudson.