FIU Volleyball returns to the court for the 2026 season on Friday, August 28th as the Panthers head up to Boca Raton for the Florida Atlantic Invitational.
beginning the szn in Boca 🔜👀
📰https://t.co/XMl956QIDA pic.twitter.com/Hm4pVeQ96y
— FIU Volleyball (@FIUVolleyball) August 27, 2026
New Coaching Staff on the Block
FIU brought in Flavia Siqueira as their new head coach. Siqueira spent her last two seasons at Georgia State, where she posted back-to-back 17+ win seasons. Before her time in Atlanta, she coached at the NCAA Division II level at Auburn Montgomery, posting an overall record of 81-59.
Returning to FIU is Assistant Head Coach Camilo Guerci, who was the assistant coach from 2016-2021. This span included the 2018 season, where the Panthers won 19 matches and had their first-ever Conference USA Championship appearance. Chen Abramovich is also going into her second season with the Panthers as an assistant coach. At Nebraska, she helped the Cornhuskers reach the NCAA National Championship in 2018 and the Elite 8 in 2019. And of course, helped the Panthers reach the CUSA Championship final.
Returning Players
The team will look vastly different from last year, with only two returning players: Junior outside hitter Jillian Huckabey and Senior defensive specialist/libero Kindyl Kilar. Huckabey had the second most kills and sets played on the team last year with 271 and 115, respectively. Kilar provided most of her defensive support off the bench.
Transfer Players
Looking at the roster, you can see Siqueira’s influence. Four players whom she coached at Georgia State are coming to play for FIU. One worth noting is Junior Defensive Specialist/Libero Marta Lazzarin. In her time at Georgia State, Lazzarin won 2025 Sun Belt Conference Libero of the Year and made the All-SBC First Team. Additionally, she ranked 5th in digs per set and 25th in total digs in the entire NCAA.
Also coming from Georgia St. are middle blockers Rayne Williams (Sophomore), Kamryn Itzen (Junior) and Junior outside hitter Marla Valentin. The two middle blockers pairing up with Williams and Itzen are freshman Teodora Skocajic from Serbia and Florida native Nichole Kelly. The freshman defensive specialist/libero Ksenija Krunic will provide support for Lazzarin and Kilar.
The two outside hitters with Huckabey and Valentin are freshmen Lana Sesar from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Alina Cebotari from Moldova. Sesar played for OK Dinamo in Zagreb and won Best Outside Hitter in the 2025/26 Croatian Cup and Best Scorer in the MEVZA Qualification U17 in 2022. Cebotari also played for her country’s U17 team in 2023.
Opposite are Freshman Gina Fedrigo, a Michigan native; Tiyana Cisse from France; and Graduate Student Chiara Fabbrini from Italy. Capping off the roster with the Setter position are sophomore Ivona Lazovic, Freshman Mariana Silva, and Junior Mia Gonzalez. Lazovic is from Serbia but spent her freshman year at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she racked up 692 assists.
A look into the season
As one can see, this team is quite different from what we saw last year. However, with two exhibition match wins against the University of Miami and Barry University, the team seems to be getting comfortable. There will be some challenging games, especially in conference play. But with a great coaching staff and incoming recruits, this team will be competitive.
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