FIU beat Denver at SBC Championship quarter-finals: Volleyball News
It was the 17th meeting between the Golden Panthers and the Pioneers, with the all-time series tied at 8-8, on Thursday, November 17 in Miami at U.S. Century Bank Arena on the campus of Florida International University. The host Florida International University
(FIU) took full advantage of the familiar conditions and pulled off success in the crucial quarter-final match of Sun Belt Conference Championship. FIU held off the Pioneers for 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18) victory and reserved a berth in the semis.
In the next run, the winning squad is scheduled to take on top team of the conference, the Western Kentucky Hill Toppers, on Friday.
FIU players enjoyed top form as the trio of Jovana Bjelica, Marija Prsa, and Andrea Lakovic displayed eye-catching action and drew all the attention of spectators. Bjelica contributed match-high 18 kills and also added 17 digs in the match. Likewise, the
equally talented Prsa and Lakovic registered 15 and 16 kills, respectively. Prsa was also credited with one service ace, 11 digs and an assist. Moreover, Chanel Araujo led all Panthers with 23 digs and also grabbed 2 assists.
Faimie Kingsley put up a good effort for the Pioneers and notched 16 kills in 33 attempts with only two errors. Kate Acker followed her with 11 kills and 12 digs and also had two assists and one service ace. Alyssa Bonelli recorded double-digit kills with
11 and got her hands on four block assists. Lyndi Johnson clipped team-high 25 digs and posted two assists.
Both sides had good energy to open the show with balance net action and remained hand-in-hand up to 12-12. Gradually, FIU got better and earned a three-point advantage over visiting team, 19-16. Senior Andrea Lakovic of FIU delivered a hard kills and converted
the score to 20-17. Meanwhile, Junior Jovana Bjelica followed suit with a kill of her own, and pushed Denver further behind.
Chanel Araujo tried to fight the challenge and attempted attacks from different angles. Nonetheless, FIU proved to be better and closed off first set with four-point lead (25-21).
The Pioneers came back quickly to take revenge in the following set. They realigned their positions and managed to come out of their low. It was not an easy task to overcome Golden Panthers but utmost effort put by Pioneers allowed them to hit the spot in
the second set (2-2). They secured the set with a small margin of two points, (25-23).
It seemed as if Pioneers were back on track but Panthers refused to lie down. Home squad attacked aggressively and extended its lead to 2-1 by winning third set, 25-21. Furthermore, FIU carried the momentum in fourth set and claimed match victory by posting
25-18 in fourth set.
Tags: