FIU Sweeps 305 Classic, Extends Win-Streak to Seven Games

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MIAMI, FL – The FIU Volleyball team sweeps their first three home games at the 305 Classic and extend their winning streak to seven games. The tournament was hosted across Friday and Saturday at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center with the visiting teams being the Central Michigan Chippewas, Alabama A&M Bulldogs, and Jacksonville Dolphins

September 18th: vs. Central Michigan

With the first match back in Miami, FIU came out with a 3-0 win over CMU. It started off with the Panthers coming out of the gate hot with a dominant 25-9 set win. One in which Junior Jillian Huckabey and Graduate Chiara Fabbrini went a combined 8/8 on the attack. Additionally, the Panthers did not commit a single error in this set.

The second set was the most competitive one with CMU eventually taking a 10-9 lead that brought Head Coach Flavia Siqueira to take a timeout. That was the first time that CMU led in any set. The only other time they led a set was 2-1 in the third. Eventually FIU came out on top with Freshman Mariana Silva getting an ace to finish it off.

The Chippewas committed a total of eight errors and only three kills that would cost them to drop the final set. But it wasn’t just the mistakes they made, but also the Panthers being able to close out strong.

When Sophomore Rayne Williams came to serve she score three straight aces to put FIU up 15-7. She finished the match off with 7 kills on 11 attempts, coming off of her historical 8-10 performance against Florida State. A performance that was the second-highest hitting percentage in FIU’s history.

Huckabey was also all over the court and ended the match with 11 kills on 21 attempts and 5 digs. Fabbrini attacked efficiently going 9/9 and no errors, a 1.000 hit and kill percentage. Sophomore Ivona Lazovic led in assists with 18 and Silva behind her with 14.

A clean game by FIU with only eight total errors and a .442 team H%. A great first home game after starting the season on the road for 10 straight matches.

September 18th: vs. Alabama A&M

In a match that had everyone on the edge of their seat, FIU came out on top and won the double header. The Panthers defeated the Alabama A&M Bulldogs 3-2. The match was so even that with all point combined between the five sets, FIU won by a margin of seven.

Early on Coach Siqueira was continuing to use Huckabey and Fabbrini as the main attackers. Due to their efficiency in the first game against CMU it made sense but they seemed exhausted and made a few errors early on. They continued to dominate for the day though, as they were the two leaders in kills for the team yet again. Huckabey went 19-49 Fabbrini 12-40

Additionally, Freshman Lana Sesar played this game and made some crucial kills, eight total, to help with the depth. Coach Siqueira sat her for the first game against CMU and it was needed as this match was a nail-biter.

However, it wasn’t easy for the Panthers. In the second set, a total of 13 errors were committed and mental mistakes began to compound. It was cleaned up later on but errors definitely defined this match as FIU led them 37-30.

When Silva was on the court it helped tremendously as she provided a total of six aces. This included a run where she scored four aces in 5 rallies. She also helped with a total of 14 assists, right behind Lazovic who had 25.

Jillian sent ‘em home on the express 🚄 pic.twitter.com/HtY23Mspv1

— FIU Volleyball (@FIUVolleyball) September 19, 2026

The fifth set was a close one as FIU went from being up 12-6 to being down 13-14. And what better way to finish off the game with a Huckabey kill. A resilient win for the Panthers as they overcame mental mistakes to come out on top.

September 19th: vs. Jacksonville

The Panthers capped off the 305 Classic with a 3-0 win against Jacksonville. A clean match played as FIU committed only 11 errors and attacked with a .330 efficiency as a team.

The leaders in kills for the match were Sesar, Huckabey and Williams, something that will be seen often throughout the season. But Fabbrini provided support going 6-14 including the 26th point in the 3rd set to win the match for the Panthers. Freshmen Gina Fedrigo and Teodora Skocajic also added to the score. Fedrigo was a prominent attacker with 5 kills on 14 attempts, while Skocajic went 3-9.

WWWWWWWHAT A WEEKEND 😄 pic.twitter.com/pmof4ugSle

— FIU Volleyball (@FIUVolleyball) September 19, 2026

A great win on Saturday to finish the weekend undefeated yet again for the Panthers.

Onto Conference Play

What better way to start your first three home games by going 3-0 and only dropping two sets. This now extends FIU’s winning streak to seven. As they were 4-0 the weekend prior at the Florida A&M tournament and Florida State. The last time the program had a 7-game winning streak was in 2019 from September 6th to 20th.

Now FIU starts conference play by heading to Springfield, Missouri to face the Missouri State Bears for two games on September 25th at 6 p.m. ET and 26th at 2 p.m. E.T. The match on the 26th can be seen on ESPN+.

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Dylan Rosado

Dylan loves to watch and talk about sports. While his favorite sport to watch is hockey, he loves watching others as well. He’s always curious about what can happen next in the world of sports.

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