MIAMI — Florida International University’s volleyball team is working to build a winning culture, and the Panthers got a glimpse of what they’re capable of after earning a landmark victory over Duke this past weekend.
“We have been working as a group for the past few years to get this program where it needs to be, to develop a good culture, good work ethic, to have standards,” said FIU head coach Cristina Robertson, who took over the program in 2022. “Setting the culture has been only half the battle.”
She said winning has not come easily.
Last year, FIU finished the 2024 season with just eight wins, facing challenging opponents and frequent setbacks. But much of that team returned this season, determined to rise from those defeats.
“It’s tough when you go through, especially the down part of things, but I think that now we know both sides of it,” said senior libero Mandi Morioka.
“Nobody’s going to come and give you a win. Nobody’s gonna come and give you points. So for us, to be greedy enough and keep doing the things that we’ve done until the first week of preseason so we can climb and be the team that we want to be,” said Robertson.
The Panthers recently earned their first win over an ACC opponent since 2009, knocking off Duke in a hard-fought match.
“To get that win was just like such an accomplishing moment,” said senior server Savannah Cook. “Like we coaches ran in and we sprayed him down with water, like you could just see the tears in everybody’s eyes. Like it was just such a proud moment for everybody.”
Morioka added that while the victory is a milestone, the program still has work to do.
“I think getting that win, it really just showed how we’ve come a long way as a group,” she said.
I think that it should give us a lot of confidence. I think that’s what we’ve lacked in the past because of a couple of losses and things like that. So I think that it’s a confidence builder and we need to use it as that and just keep building," added Cook.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
