PLAYER OF THE WEEK
STEPHANIE BISHOP, OH, DE PAUL
DePaul's STEPHANIE BISHOP is the Conference USA Player of the Week for the period ending Sept. 3. Bishop was the Most Valuable Player at the Northern Illinois Invitational, as the Blue Demons won the tournament title with a 3-0 record. Bishop tallied 57 kills and 41 digs on the weekend and posted a .432 hitting percentage.

MVP CENTRAL
DePaul's STEPHANIE BISHOP was not the only Conference USA player to win a tournament MVP honor last weekend. Cincinnati's BONITA WISE was named MVP of the Golden Gate Classic in San Francisco, while Louisville's SONJA PERCAN won top honors at Illinois State's Barker GMAC Classic. In addition, Memphis' AMIE HAMILTON was the top player at the UNC Asheville Invitational, and COLLEEN HUNTER of Saint Louis took similar honors at the Butler Invitational.

THE CENTURY CLUB
Charlotte second-year coach LISA MARSTON notched the 100th win of her head coaching career when the 49ers opened the 2001 campaign with a 3-2 victory over Providence.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of the top individual performers in C-USA from Aug. 31-Sept. 1:

COURTNEY BURG, CHA: Named all-tournament at Charlotte Invitational after her 59 kills and 34 digs on the weekend.

BONITA WISE, CIN: Had 22 kills and a .354 hitting percentage to earn Golden Gate Classic MVP honors.

JENNY TANNENBERGER, HOU: Hit .304 and averaged more than three kills per game to earn Crowne Plaza Invitational All-Tournament honors.

SONJA PERCAN, LOU: The MVP of the Barker GMC/Illinois State Classic had 48 kills and 22 digs in three matches.

MEHGAN DEVINE, MAR: The senior had 43 kills and 31 digs at Idaho State's Tournament last week.

AMIE HAMILTON, MEM: Earned MVP honors at the UNC Asheville Tournament and moved into fifth on the school's career aces list (150).

COLLEEN HUNTER, SLU: The MVP of the Doubletree/Butler Invitational had doubles-doubles in all three matches and her 33 kills against Austin Peay are the second-highest of her career.

KELLY TRIBBLE, USM: Hit .273 and had double-digit kills in all three matches of the Troy State Tournament.

MARCI KING, TCU: Posted doubles-doubles against New Hampshire and UMass and needs two more to become the school's career double-doubles leader.


C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: LISA MARSTON notched her 100th career win Friday as Charlotte defeated Providence, 3-2, in the first round of the Charlotte Invitational. COURTNEY BURG and KATHLEEN RAMOS were both named all-tournament at the Charlotte Invitational. The 49ers travel to Alabama for the Auburn Invitational this weekend.

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati downed host San Francisco in three straight games to win the Molten Golden Gate Classic volleyball tournament last Saturday. BONITA WISE and TRISH LADUSAW combined for 26 kills as the Bearcats won by scores of 30-24, 20-25 and 30-17. UC, which opened the tourney with a four-game win over Wyoming, upped its record to 2-0.

DE PAUL: DePaul went 3-0 at the Northern Illinois Invitational to capture the title. The Blue Demons defeated Creighton, 3-0, Texas-San Antonio, 3-2 and host Northern Illinois, 3-1. STEPHANIE BISHOP, who had 57 kills and 41 digs was the tournament MVP and the C-USA Player of the Week.

EAST CAROLINA: Coming off the Wake Forest Deacon Invitational, the Pirates' volleyball team heads to Blackburg, Va., where they will participate in the Virginia Tech Invitational. The Pirates will face Akron, Virginia Tech, and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the two-day tourney.

HOUSTON: Houston went 2-2 at the Crowne Plaza Invitational last weekend. All-American candidate JENNIFER WITTENBURG picked up where she left off last season, averaging better than five kills and four digs per game. After four matches, the Houston defense is holding opponents to a .144 hitting percentage and averaging 19.18 digs per game.

LOUISVILLE: Louisville defeated Missouri-Kansas City, UW-Milwaukee and host Illinois State to win the Barker GMC/Illinois State Classic last weekend. SONJA PERCAN was named MVP of the tournament after recording 48 kills and 22 digs.

MARQUETTE: VESNA GRBAVAC, who missed the entire 2000 season with a shoulder injury, returned to post 54 kills in three matches at the Pocatello Hotel Labor Day Classic. Grbavac and MEHGAN DEVINE were named to the all-tournament team. Devine had 43 kills and 31 digs. Devine (777) and Grbavac (743) are ninth and 10th, respectively, on MU's career digs list.

MEMPHIS:Memphis is 3-0 for the first time since 1998 after capturing the UNC Asheville Tournament title last weekend. This is the seventh regular season tournament title of coach CARRIE YERTY's career. Senior AMIE HAMILTON was the MVP of the event after averaging 1.7 service aces and 11 assists.

SAINT LOUIS: Saint Louis went 1-2 at the Doubletree/Butler Invitational last weekend. COLLEEN HUNTER posted double-doubles in all three matches en route to tournament MVP honors. Her 33 kills against Austin Peay were the second-best individual performance of her career. Sophomore setter SHANNAN SWINEY is ninth on the SLU career assists list with 825.

SOUTH FLORIDA: South Florida defeated Marshall but fell to No. 6 Arizona and No. 9 Florida at the Sun Trust Invitational. MICHELLE COLLIER was named to the all-tournament team.

SOUTHERN MISS: First-year coach SANITAGO RESTREPO notched his opening USM win with a 3-1 decision over host Troy State at the Trojans' tournament. KELLY TRIBBLE had 48 kills and 13 digs in three matches. BRIDGET FILES recorded 41 kills, 40 digs, 10 blocks and hit .258 and had two double-doubles on the weekend.

TCU: TCU dropped its first three matches of the season at the UConn Ikon Husky Classic last weekend. None of the games were decided by more than eight points and four were decided by more than three. MARCI KING needs two more double-doubles to become the school's all-time leader.

TULANE: Tulane went 1-3 at the season-opening Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic last weekend. Junior outside hitter BRITNEY HURST, who was named to the all-tournament team, led the young Green Wave squad with 25 kills in its final match of the tournament against Baylor. Erin Dobyanski had a season-high 23 kills to go along with nine digs and nine total blocks as the Green Wave defeated UNLV for the first win of the season.

UAB: UAB topped Eastern Kentucky, 3-1 and fell to Georgia, 3-1 at the Outback Steakhouse Invitational. UAB's other victory came Friday with a 3-2 decision over Jacksonville 30-25, 26-30, 35-33, 25-30, 15-7. UAB returns home to Bartow Arena Tuesday to face Middle Tennessee.