|
August 31 , 2002
FIU gets swept on the second
day of the Remada Invitational, 0-3, 2-3
 an
Diego State continued its winning ways at the Ramada Invitational
Saturday morning, defeating FIU in three games (15-30, 29-31,
29-31). The nightcap was no better for the Golden Panthers, as
Tulane took a close match, 2-3 (33-31, 25-30, 30-24, 30-32, 13-15).
Junior Jennifer Owens led all players with 14 kills
on the day while senior Nirvana Kos added 13 for the Golden
Panthers.
San Diego State took control of game by reeling off five straight
points to take an 11-6 lead and the Golden Panthers never got
closer than four after that point. Eleven unforced FIU errors
also helped the Aztec cause as SDSU hit .524 compared to -.143
for the Golden Panthers.
Game two was a different story as FIU played inspired volleyball,
leading most of the way and holding a 27-22 advantage late in
the contest. However, two kills apiece from Aspen McPartland
and Melissa Cansdale helped SDSU knot the score at 27
apiece. The Aztecs won six of the ensuing six points with Zlatina
Anguelova providing the game-winning kill to give her side the
31-29 win. Owens (5) and Kos (4) led FIU in kills.
The third game was another tightly contested affair with neither
team leading by more than two points. With the scored at 29,
SDSU closed out the match on an FIU service error and a kill
by Robyn Gregg.
In the nightcap, FIU took a 5-1 lead in game one, but came
back to tie the game on two occasions before taking the lead
at 14-13. Tulane would increase its lead to as many as three
at 26-23 and 27-24, but the Golden Panthers battled back to tie
it up at 29-all, before putting the game away, 33-31.
The back-and-forth contest that ensued in game one carried
over to the second game as FIU and Tulane battled to a tie nine
occasions. The Green Wave went on to win, 30-25.
Game three was a contest of runs as Tulane jumped out to a
10-5 lead before the Golden Panthers battled back to tie the
game 14-14. From there, the two teams battled through five more
ties. But with the score tied at 18-all, FIU outscored the Green
Wave 12-6 the rest of the way for a 30-24 win.
Like the previous three frames, game four featured a total
of 16 ties as neither team would hold a lead of more than three
the entire way. With the score knotted at 6-all, FIU outdistanced
themselves from the Green Wave and held a 17-14 lead midway through
the period. Tulane was able to fight back to tie the score at
17 and held off a Golden Panther match point at 29-28 to tie
the score at 29-29. After failing to convert with a 30-29 lead,
Tulane was able to capitalize one opportunity later to take the
game 32-30.
In the deciding stanza, the Green Wave was able to take advantage
of several FIU mistakes as three-straight Golden Panther errors
provided Tulane with a 10-8 lead midway through the period. FIU
would cut the lead to one at 12-11 and 13-12 before eventually
knotting the score at 13-all, but after a timeout, Tulane got
a cross-court kill from Hurst and a key block by Swafford and
junior opposite hitter Nitia Small to seal the victory.
Nirvana Kos and junior Adriana Fundora each
tallied 23 kills to lead the Golden Panthers, and Jennifer
Owens tallied 18. Defensively, Fundora recorded 15 digs for
her first double-double of the year, while senior Vanessa
Gonzalez-Vinas had 12.
The Golden Panthers travel again next weekend to the Xavier
Tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio. FIU will play host Xavier, Tennessee
Tech and Texas-Pan American over the course of the weekend. |