VolleyMob Beach Pair of the Week: Frasca/Bianchin, FIU

  0 Wendy Mayer | March 13th, 2018 | CCSA, College - Beach

This week’s VolleyMob Beach Pair of the Week played valiantly against the nation’s best top flight pairs. Sophomore Federica Frasca and junior Margherita Bianchin led No. 13 Florida International with a 3-1 record against the top four No. 1 pairs at the East Meets West Challenge in Manhattan Beach, California.

The Italian duo – Frasca hails from Rome, while Bianchin calls Treviso home – moved to 10-1 on the year on the No. 1 line with the effort.

After dropping their first match of the season to No. 2 USC, the pair rebounded with wins over No. 4 UCLA, No. 3 Hawaii and No. 1 Pepperdine.

  • Fell to 21-19, 21-15 to Tina Graudina/Abril Bustamante (No. 2 USC) 21-19, 21-15
  • Def. Nicole McNamara/Megan McNamara (No. 4 UCLA), 11-21, 21-16, 15-12
  • Def. Laurel Weaver/Carly Kan (No. 3 Hawaii), 21-17, 21-13
  • Def. Brook Bauer/Madalyn Roh (No. 1 Pepperdine), 21-13, 18-21, 17-15

Frasca, who was the MVP of the 2014 Italian U18 Beach Volleyball Championship, went 25-7 in 2017, playing one the No. 1 through 5 lines. She went 15-7 at the No. 1 position, including a 10-5 mark with Bianchin and a 5-2 effort with Katie Hogan.

Bianchin posted a 30-8 mark, including 10-5 at No. 1 with Frasca. She also managed a 10-3 mark at No. 5, going 9-3 with Taija Thomas, a 2-0 effort at No. 2, 5-0 at No. 3 and 3-0 at No. 4.

As a pairing, Biachin and Frasca are 30-6, including 21-6 on the No. 1 line.

FIU is now 6-5 on the season after close losses in all four of its matches at the East Meets West Challenge. The Panthers fell to No. 2 USC 4-1, and were edged 3-2 by No. 1 Pepperdine, No. 3 Hawaii and No. 4 UCLA. The team hits the road for Tavares, Florida, for the Stetson/Hichory Point Bash this weekend.

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About Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer

Wendy Mayer has worked in athletics media relations for the last 20 years. The Northwest Missouri State alumna is currently senior writer for Volleymob.com after spending the last 15 years with Purdue athletics.

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