FIU Tops Miami in Grueling Match, 3-2
Miami, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) – Miami lost to FIU in a gruelingfive-game match, 2-3, (30-26, 29-31, 30-19, 16-30 & 6-15) on Friday night at theGolden Panther Arena on the campus of Florida International.
The Hurricanes (6-7) and Golden Panthers (10-5) battled back and forth all night.UM won games one and three while FIU took games two, four and finally, game five.
Miami appeared in control early. The Hurricanes utilized a balanced attack ingame one with junior outside hitter Marcela Gamarra (Medellin, Colombia), freshmanoutside hitter Jamie Grass (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) and freshman middle blockerSandra Totten (Thermal, Calif.) scoring three kills each.
UM had 11 total kills on 36 attempts for .139 to FIU’s .130. The Hurricanes pulledaway mid-game and maintained a four-point lead to win 30-26.
The second match went down to the wire. Freshman Valeria Tipiana (Lima, Peru)had four-straight kills but neither team could maintain a serious scoring runand the game was locked at 28-28 after a bruising, one-armed dig by freshman setterMallorey James (Tucson, Ariz.).
FIU scored to move ahead 28-29 and Miami responded with crucial blocks by Gamarraand senior middle blocker Kristi Sprinkel (Laguna Beach, Calif.) to again tiethe game at 29-29. The Panthers scored the next two points to win 29-31.
Miami bounced back in game three. The Hurricanes opened up a big lead and nevertrailed, taking the game 30-19. Tipiana again contributed four kills while Gamarraand Sprinkel each scored three times.
FIU opened up a seven-point lead to begin the fourth match and won 16-30. Errorscost the Hurricanes as the Panthers engineered a kill percentage of .300 to UM’s-.029. Miami posted nine kills on 35 attacks with 10 errors.
In the fifth and deciding game, FIU pulled away to win 6-15.
FIU’s Nirvana Kos led all scorers with 27 kills on 59 attempts (.339). ValeriaTipiana had a team-high 15 kills on 32 attempts (.438) for Miami.
Miami returns home after four-straight road matches to host the Tulsa Golden Hurricaneon October 11th at 7 p.m.
For ticket information for Miami volleyball home matches, contact the UM TicketOffice at 1-800-GO-CANES.
