The 2001 Conference USA Volleyball season is right around the corner. Catch up with what's happening with all 14 C-USA programs by reading the preseason notebook.

CHARLOTTE
Senior defensive specialist Laura Darnell will sit out the 2001 season with a torn ACL in her left knee. She suffered the injury during the 49ers' spring season and will have one year of eligibility remaining when she returns in 2002.

Megan Mosness is first in line to take over at setter for Charlotte this season, replacing three-time all-league selection Ozlem Ozkan. Mosness saw action in 39 games as a sophomore transfer from Oregon State last year, averaging 3.49 assists per game.

Charlotte expects big things from Jennifer Smith this season. A 6-3 middle blocker, Smith showed solid improvement in her first year on the volleyball team after starring on the women's basketball team two seasons. She averaged 9.7 kills and 4.0 blocks over the team's final seven matches.

The 49ers' seven Conference USA wins last season matched the school record for league victories. Charlotte also had seven C-USA wins in 1999.


CINCINNATI
UC made its third appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2000, losing to Notre Dame 3-0 in the first round in Columbus, Ohio.

The Bearcats will play 10 matches against NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago, including Final Four participants Wisconsin, USC and Hawaii.

The Bearcats will be looking for an unprecedented seventh consecutive 20-win season.

Reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Trish Ladusaw ranks fourth in NCAA history with her 4.41 career digs per game average.

Cincinnati and Conference USA's all-time leading blocker Stephanie Meinig will serve as an assistant coach.


DE PAUL
DePaul finished the 2000 season 21-12, the most wins since 1993 and the first time since 1990-91 that DePaul has registered back-to-back 20-win seasons.

Kara Jakusz was named C-USA's Setter of the Year in 2000 after braking the C-USA single season assist record in conference matches with 870 and tieing the overall mark with 1,723. Jakusz was also named the C-USA Women's Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Stephanie Bishop tallied the 1,500th kill of her career on November 10, 2000 and is fifth all-time in C-USA in kills. A first team All-C-USA pick in each of the past two seasons, Bishop also eclipsed the 1,000-dig mark in her career last season.

Christa Dirr, a second-team All-C-USA pick last season, is currently fifth all-time at DePaul in block assists.

The Blue Demons will open the season with three players who have already recorded 1,000 digs in their careers in seniors Kara Jakusz, Stephanie Bishop and Melissa Nordine.


EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina compiled a 17-13 record last season. This was the first winning record since 1995. This was just the third time the team had a winning record since 1982

The 2001 campaign marks East Carolina's first full season in Conference USA. Prior to that, the Pirates were members of the Colonial Athletic Association.

In 2000, East Carolina had two All-League Selections (Cinta Claro and Lucinda Mason). This is the first time that has happened since 1989

East Carolina posted its first CAA winning record last season (7-5) and its 17 overall victories are fifth in school history.

HOUSTON
Houston is one of only 12 schools in the nation that can claim a streak of 10-straight NCAA bids. Even volleyball powers like UCLA, Hawaii, Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas and Pepperdine can't match that
feat.

Head coach Bill Walton begins his 16th season at the helm of the Cougar program with a streak of 12-straight appearances in national postseason play. His UH teams have averaged over 21 wins per season
for each of the last seven years.

Senior outside hitter Jennifer Wittenburg was granted a sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA after enduring some injuries throughout her collegiate career. She was named First Team All Conference USA after finishing second in the nation with 6.16 kills per game last season.

UH will have a decidedly different look in 2001. Four starting seniors have graduated and seven newcomers have joined the team. Junior transfer Jenny Tanneberger leads the list of newcomers after
playing the last two seasons at the University of Texas.

Houston will play eight matches against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season.


LOUISVILLE
The Cardinals return five starters. Stacey Mercer (1st team All-Conference USA), Jing Ding (Tournament MVP), Lesley Drury (All-Tournament), Emily Roberson (2nd team all-defense) and Anastasia Zaitseva (Co-Freshman of the Year). Sonja Percan, a former starter, will most likely step in for the departed Kelly McClain. Percan was Co-Freshman of the year in 1999.

The Cardinals played overseas in Italy, Austria, Germany and Russia this summer. In 21 days, they played 10 matches, including five matches in Russia (one being the Red Army team) when they were hosted by Leonid Berezin's MSCA club.

The Cards were a perfect 10 in the 10th month. In 2000 the Cardinals were 10-0 in October. In 1999, Louisville did not lose a match in the month of October - they were 10 for 10 in the 10th month. U of L lost last in October on 10/30/98.

Louisville has fielded volleyball teams since the 1977 and in 23 years of volleyball has had only seven losing seasons with the last one coming in 1987. The Cards have had 20+ seasons 14 times with one season with 39 wins.


MARQUETTE
Marquette returns seven letterwinners in hopes of improving upon last year's 9-23 overall record. One of the returnees will be outside hitter Vesna Grbavac who missed last season with an injury. Grbavac earned 2nd team Conference USA honors in 1999 after establishing a school record for kills (520).

Senior Mehgan Devine, a Conference USA Second-Team selection last year, is coming off a fine 2000 season that saw her finish tied for seventh among league players in blocks (1.04 bpg). Devine's 374 total kills ranked her sixth on MU's seasonal chart.

Sophomore Gemma Greer has the inside track on taking over the setting responsibilities from the graduated Liz Eagsti who closed out her career as C-USA's all-time leader in assists. Greer played in 51 games over 17 matches and averaged 10.45 assists per game last season.

Senior Tarah Beyer will serve as the captain of the 2001 Marquette volleyball team.

This year's Marquette team will face, four C-USA teams and four non-conference opponents. The non-conference teams include Minnesota (Sept. 5), UW-Milwaukee (Sept. 11), Loyola-Chicago (Oct. 23) and Tennessee (Nov. 23).


MEMPHIS
The senior class of 2000 is Head Coach Carrie Yerty's largest-ever senior group with five returnees in 2000. Twice in her previous five seasons she has returned two seniors and has had just one senior the other three years. The senior class is a distinguished bunch with Amie Hamilton already in the school record book for career assists, digs and service aces, while Ginger Garrett will break into the top 10 in kills, attempts and service aces sometime this season as well. Emily Eichmann emerged as an opposite side hitter in 2000, earning the team's Most Improved Player award.

Sophomore Brittany Barnett, the second Tiger in three years to be named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team, will move from middle hitter back to her normal outside hitter spot in 2001. Due to the injury to Laura Stoke in 2000, Barnett was moved inside to give Memphis three middles for the year. Barnett was an outside hitter in high school, but proved her athleticism by stuffing 105 block assists, the fifth-highest single season mark in school history.

With three setters on the roster, Amie Hamilton may be able to move back to her defensive specialist position, depending on how well incoming-freshman Heather Watts adjusts to the college game. Hamilton was the league's first-ever Defensive Player of the Year as a freshman when she went 22 straight games without a receiving error.

Memphis' schedule will differ somewhat from years past, featuring 10 first-time opponents, including 2001 C-USA member TCU. Newcomers to the Tiger schedule include LaSalle, Cornell, Robert Morris, Youngstown State and UNC-Asheville. The is the first time in Head Coach Carrie Yerty's career that Memphis will not host a home tournament.


SAINT LOUIS
The returning players accounted for 91 percent of the blocks, 83 percent of the kills and 81 percent of the digs from last season.

Colleen Hunter set a school-record last season with 654 kills and became the first SLU player to record 1,000 in her first two seasons.

Saint Louis has had one player named first team All-Conference for four straight seasons.

The Bills will once again play a challenging schedule. In 2001, Saint Louis faces eight teams that reached the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Last year, the Billikens played 12 matches against NCAA teams.

Incoming freshmen Jessica and Kayla Kmitta are identical twins.


SOUTH FLORIDA
Junior Michelle Collier returned from career-threatening knee injury to earn Conference USA Player of the Year honors last season. Collier recorded a career-high 760 kills for the season as well as a league and career-best 41 kills against Louisville (11/10/00).

Nancy Mueller enters her third season as head coach of the Bulls with a career record of 43-24. Last season Mueller led the Bulls to their first C-USA regular season title since 1997 as well as their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. Those feats, as well as others, led to Mueller being named C-USA Coach of the Year in only her second season.

Last season marked the seventh time in 10 years the Bulls recorded a 20-win season, and their 28 wins tied them for third best in school history. With three returning starters and nine returning letterwinners, USF will again be a strong contender for the conference title.

In 2000, the Bulls ranked first in the conference in won-lost percentage (.938), first in digs, averaging 19.19 per game, and second in kills with 16.81 per game. USF enters its seventh season in C-USA with a 74-16 all-time conference record, which includes three C-USA regular-season championships and two C-USA Tournament titles.


SOUTHERN MISS
Santiago Restrepo was named head coach of Southern Miss' volleyball program in January. He joins the Golden Eagles after spending the last three seasons as an assistant at Saint Louis. Restrepo becomes the seventh head coach in the program's history.

The Golden Eagles welcome back seven letterwinners including four starters

Kelly Tribble is the lone senior on the Golden Eagles' 2001 roster. She is on track to reach 1,000 kills in her career, and she is No. 9 on the all-time list with 949 kills. Tribble also ranks in the top 10 in hitting percentage, block assists and total blocks.


TCU
The Horned Frogs finished 2000 with the best record in the history of the TCU volleyball program (15-18) and set a record for most conference wins (6).

TCU team season records for attack percentage (.213), kills (1,942), kills per game (15.3), total attacks (5,274), assists (1,723), assists per game (13.6), digs (1,952) and total blocks (372.0).

Outside Hitter Marci King added 16 double-doubles to move her career mark to 39. She needs only 4 double-doubles this season to become the all-time leader.

Setter Lindsay Hayes holds individual records for career assists per game (11.06), season assists (1,465) and season assists per game (11.72) following the 2000 season.


TULANE
The Green Wave 17 wins last season was the best total since 1994 when Tulane posted its last 20 win season.

Tulane returns All-Conference USA selection Erin Dobyanski and C-USA All-Freshman selection Lauren Jones-McClain.

Returning setter Jennifer Witte set the Tulane career record in assists last season and currently has 4,256.

Last season, the Green Wave posted its best ever Conference USA finish, sixth place overall.

Erin Dobyanski's career hitting percentage of .220 is among the top-10 in Tulane history.


UAB
UAB signed five new players for the 2001 season. The recruiting class will add needed depth, especially at the middle blocking position. The Blazer newcomers include Ellen Fleisher, a 6-1 middle blocker from Pelham High School in Pelham, Ala.; Allison Magner, a 6-1 middle blocker/outside hitter who transfered from N.C. State; Kerra Kepley, a 6-0 middle blocker from Lake Highlands High School in Dallas, Texas; Amber Sorensen, a 6-1 middle blocker from Riverton High School in Riverton, Utah; and Jessica Liptak, a 5-10 setter from Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream, Ill.

Senior outside hitter Laura Burke will be forced to sit out the 2001 season due to a shoulder injury. Burke led the Blazers in kills with 232 last season.

The Blazers return three starters and six letterwinners from 2000. UAB will be led by returning starters Shelly Greene and Martina Shields. Greene, a senior outside hitter, and Shields, a sophomore outside hitter, combined for 357 kills and 421 digs last season.

UAB will face six NCAA Tournament participants from 2000 and will play 15 out of conference foes, spanning nine different conferences in 2001. The Blazers' schedule also includes three tournaments including the University of Georgia's tournament (Aug. 31-Sept. 1), the University of Miami's tournament (Sept. 7-8) and the University of Tennessee's tournament (Sept. 14-15).