FIU volleyball falls to No. 14 UF in NCAA Tournament second round


FIU entered the tournament as one of only three schools in the country to have won 30 or more matches.

The FIU volleyball team closed out its record-breaking season Friday night, Dec. 4, as the Panthers fell to No. 14 Florida, 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-16) in the second round of the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.

The Panthers end the season with an overall record of 32-4, with the 32 wins marking a school record. Heading into tournament play, FIU was one of three schools in the country to have won 30 or more matches along with Penn State (32) and Northern Iowa (30). The Panthers won their second straight Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship in 2009 and put together a 23-match win streak, which, at the time, was the fourth-longest such streak in the country.

Senior Yarimar Rosa ends her collegiate career as FIU’s all-time leader in career kills (2,083) and career digs (1,053), while classmate Olga Vergun closes out her career with 1,166 career kills and 221 block assists, marks which both rank fifth on the all-time charts.

“With the season that we had, this one loss at the end of the season is not going to define who we are and what we did this year,” said head coach Danijela Tomic. “To have 32 wins, it doesn’t happen every year. My team always fights and that’s all I ask of them.”

Both teams came out strong, going almost point for point until FIU took a lead at 17-15. Florida recorded a kill but sophomore Andrea Lakovic tallied a kill to put FIU back on top by two. The Gators scored to make it a one-point match but then committed an attack error to put the score at 19-17 in favor of FIU.

Following a Florida timeout, the Gators tied the score at 19-19 before junior Natalia Valentin scored on a tip on the right side to put FIU ahead by one. Florida knotted the score at 20-20 with a block and then went ahead by one at 21-20 to force an FIU timeout.

Out of the break, Florida gained another point on a violation before freshman Jovana Bjelica slammed home a kill to bring the Panthers within one at 22-21. The Gators got the point back on a kill to go ahead, 23-21, and then got within set-point position on a Panther attack error. Vergun scored on a tip to put the score at 24-22, but Florida took the set, 25-22, on a kill to go ahead 1-0 for the match.

The second set saw the squads battle back and forth with Florida taking a lead at 18-14. Out of a timeout, Vergun tallied a kill from the right side to put the score at 18-15, but the Gators tallied a kill of their own to go back up by four at 19-15. Florida then scored five straight points to get to set-point position at 24-15 before a kill up the middle gave the Gators a 25-15 set-win.

Down 2-0 for the match, FIU put up a fight in the third set but Florida ran out to an 18-13 lead. Valentin recorded a kill to bring FIU within four at 18-14, but the Gators registered a kill of their own to put the deficit back to five. Florida then took a 20-14 lead to force a Panther timeout.

The Gators scored three straight points out of the break to put the score at 23-14 before Bjelica made it 23-15 with a kill from the right side, but Florida gained a point to get within match-point position at 24-15. FIU managed one more point but the Gators prevailed, taking the set, 25-15, and winning the match, 3-0.

Vergun led the FIU offense with nine kills while Lakovic added eight kills. Valentin had team-leading marks of 31 assists and 11 digs, while Rosa and sophomore Sabrina Gonzalez each recorded one block.

“I thought that we started off really well,” said head coach Danijela Tomic. “We had to rearrange our lineup because we didn’t know if Yari[mar Rosa] could play. After the second set when Yari said she couldn’t go anymore, we put our freshman, Jovana [Bjelica], on the outside and she played most of the season on the right side. Olga [Vergun] played most of the season in the middle and we put her on the right side. With all the adversity that we had to go through, I am so proud of our team.

The difference was the last few points of the first set when we made unforced errors at the wrong time. Florida did a great job adjusting and they’re a solid team. They took us out of our system a lot and they serve really well. Florida deserved to win and they were the better team tonight.”