It’s almost a secret.
Removed from the more well-traveled football, baseball and soccer fields and tucked in behind FIU’s outdoor basketball courts, that’s where 21 young women labor under the sun, repeatedly jumping barefoot and emerging from the hot sand to slam ferocious spikes.
Yes, it’s beach volleyball season, and the FIU Panthers are ranked 12th in the nation. Last season, the Panthers made it to the national quarterfinals at Gulf Shores, Alabama, and they lost 3-2 in a match against three-time NCAA champion Southern Cal.
Margherita Bianchin, who is from Venice, Italy, and is one-half of FIU’s All-American beach-volleyball duo along with Rome’s Federica Frasca, believes the Panthers deserve a higher ranking.