Photo by Rebecca Villafane
By: Eduardo Almaguer / Staff Writer
On Saturday night, the Panthers toppled the Knights in a thriller that stunned the crowd.
Even with UCF drawing first blood, the Panthers staged a dramatic comeback that led to a momentous win for the team.
However, this was not the match that took place on a football field.
It was the match that took place on a volleyball court.
FIU (8-3, 0-0 SBC) overcame an 11-14 deficit in the fifth set against UCF (9-3, 0-0 C-USA) and jerked the rug from underneath the Knights, winning the match 3-2 (23-25, 25-27, 26-24, 25-21, 17-15) and becoming the UCF Challenge champions. With the win, the Panthers extend their season-high winning streak to five on Sept. 17.
Junior Jovana Bjelica’s outstanding performance in the UCF Challenge earned her tournament MVP.
“Jovana has been a go to player for us from the beginning of this season. She came through with big hits, big digs, big serves and big blocks when we needed them,” said Head Coach Danijela Tomic. “She knows that it’s her role this year and she’s embraced it.”
Senior Sabrina Gonzalez and junior Marija Prsa also received All-Tournament honors for their exceptional performance.
The first set did not bode well for the Panthers. After falling behind 1-2 on an error by Bjelica, FIU did not build enough momentum to help them vault the Knights on the scoreboard. Despite an attempt at a comeback, the Knights won the first set by a narrow score of 25-23.
The second set seemed promising for the Panthers, as they managed to keep the Knights at arms length all the way until the end of the match.
FIU, however, collapsed at the end and allowed a 24-21 lead to slip through their fingers. The Knights pillaged the Panther defense to win 27-25 and take a two-set lead.
“Offensively we were not doing well and our hitters got frustrated and impatient,” said Tomic of the first two sets. “The whole team seemed out of rhythm.”
FIU returned in the third set and battled viciously with the Knights to knot the score 24-24. UCF committed a serving error and gave the Panthers a one-point lead. Bjelica, en route to her fifth double-double of the season, slammed down an authoritative kill to give the team the set victory.
Down by five in the fourth set, Gonzalez, Prsa and Bjelica carried the team with five unanswered points to tie the score 20-20. The Panthers seized the lead and never let it go, winning 25-21 on the heels of a Prsa kill.
For the third time this season, FIU was headed to a five-set game.
In a tense nail biter, both FIU and UCF scratched and clawed to try to gain the lead. The teams had 11 tie scores to begin the match. With the score 10-10, the Knights mounted a 4-1 run to take a 14-11 lead. The Knights were poised to win.
The Panthers’ heartbeat, however, refused to flat line.
After tying the score at 14-14, Prsa scored a kill and the Knights committed an attack error to give FIU a huge win.
“This was a huge win for us because it showed the team that we have what it takes to be champions,” said Tomic. “To be able to save four match points and come back from 11-14 in the fifth tells a lot about the character that this team is developing.”
The team will ride this wave of momentum heading into Denton, Texas as they face North Texas and Denver this weekend to begin the Sun Belt Conference play.
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