Golden Panthers upsets first place Middle Tennessee

By: Rico Albarracin / Staff Writer

Earlier in the week, some FIU volleyball players were excited to have Marija Prsa play in her first match. Senior Natalia Valentin even went on to say that Prsa was their secret weapon. Prsa played in her first game as a Golden Panther. She did not disappoint.

FIU (10-8, SBC 4-2) hosted the defending Sun Belt champions Middle Tennessee (17-5, SBC 8-1) and defeated them in 4 sets, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23, and 25-19. Sabrina Gonzalez had a career high 17 kills, breaking her old career high from only 3 weeks ago. Prsa, a redshirt freshman who was struggling with a shoulder injury, played in her first match as a Panther and was efficient, with 11 kills and 17 digs. Senior setter Natalia Valentin played a tough match, adding 49 assists and 16 digs to the teams efforts.

“I was waiting for this for a year and a half and I finally stated playing.” Said Prsa, who spoke about her first match. “In the beginning, I was a little bit nervous, but after the first two sets, everything was fine.”

The Panthers became the first team this season to beat the Blue Raiders in conference play. Valentin felt that this was a big win for the team.

“I think we did a pretty good job.” Valentin said. “I feel awesome, obviously. It’s a great win. It’s a huge win.”

FIU started the match out focused, with the concentration on defense. With the score tied at 6, Izabela Kozan went down with an ankle injury and does not return. Without the Blue Raiders offensive leader on the floor, FIU looked to capitalize on the injury. Neither team was willing to give up points easily, as it continued as a tie for most of the set with teams trading points in a defensive battle. Defense helped FIU stave off the barrage of MTU attacks. The Panthers looked to try to finish the first set off with great finishes by Ines Medved and Marija Prsa to push the lead to24-21. MTU scored two points to get close, but Medved finished the set for the Panthers 25-23.

The Panthers struggled to start the second set, falling behind 2-5 with kills coming from Maria Szivos and Ashley Adams for MTU. The Blue Raiders showed their strength, which is the attack game, and bullied FIU at the net. Una Trkulja helped keep FIU in the set with two return kills. MTU struggled with their serves, which allowed FIU to close the gap to 19-21. The Panthers showed resiliency to keep it close but eventually dropped the set 22-25.

The Panthers quickly forgot about dropping the 2^nd set, as they burst out to a 6-2 lead at the start of the 3^rd set with kills by Medved, Prsa, and Sabrina Gonzalez. The team seemed to be clicking on all cylinders, as they went on a 7-2 run to push the match to 13-5. FIU kept the momentum up to make the score 18-13, as they kept the Blue Raiders on their heels. MTU inched their way closer, to cut the lead down to 24-23 for FIU. Two kills by Gonzalez finished the set 25-23 in favor of FIU.

FIU got off to another hot start in the 4^th set, as they were able to get impressive kills from Gonzalez and Lakovic for a 8-4 lead. The two teams began to trade points, as FIU could not extend the lead past 4. The Blue Raiders showed the Panthers why they were undefeated, with the power attack game that brought the match to 14-12. FIU proved to be no slouches, with some demoralizing kills by Gonzalez and Lakovic to push the lead 20-13 in favor of the Panthers. After the kills, the momentum was too much for the Blue Raiders to overcome, as FIU finished the set with a score of 25-19 and the match score of 3-1.

FIU Coach Daniela Tomic felt good about the win.

“Our serve-receive was really good,” Tomic said. “This was probably one of our best serve-receive games so far. This was an emotional win for us. Middle Tennessee always pushes us to play the best that we can. We didn’t feel that that’s what we did two weeks. We had another chance to show that we are a better team than what we showed two weeks ago.”

Now the Panthers look to carry this momentum against Western Kentucky, who comes into town on Saturday night.

“I told the team in the huddle celebrate until midnight,” Tomic said. “After that, it’s all preparation for Western Kentucky. We have another thing to prove.”

Sabrina Gonzalez feels this team played the way they should and looks to carry it through against Western Kentucky.”

“We did what we had to do today,” Gonzalez said. “Now we know we can play like this. We should be fine.”