PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In light of the Sept. 11 national tragedy, Conference USA had a limited sports schedule from Sept. 11-16. Therefore, there will not be a Player of the Week honoree for the period ending Sept. 16.

The entire Conference USA family extends its thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the horrific tragedies that occurred on September 11. To those working tirelessly in the cleanup and rescue efforts in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., we extend a heartfelt thank you. To those in the Government and military whose job it is to serve and protect America, our trust and prayers are with you, also. God bless all of you and God Bless America.

NATIONAL POLLS
Here is a look at the Sept. 17 AVCA/USA Today Poll.
1. Nebraska
2. Long Beach State
3. Arizona
4. Stanford
5. USC
6. Penn State
7. Pacific
8. UCLA
9. Wisconsin
10. Florida
11. Colorado
12. Hawaii
13. Pepperdine
13. BYU
15. Ohio State
16. Texas A
17. Minnesota
18. UC Santa Barbara
19. South Carolina
20. Santa Clara
21. Utah
22. Kansas State
23. Notre Dame
24. Northern Iowa
25 Texas

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Louisville (111), Colorado (83). Michigan State (56), Baylor (18), Missouri (13), Washington State (12).

BEST STARTS
After defeating Mississippi, 3-2 on Monday, the Memphis Tigers posted a school record 8-0 start. Memphis's best opening prior to this season, was during the 1997 season, when the Tigers recorded a 7-0 start under head coach Carrie Yerty.

The DePaul Blue Demons have also collected an 8-0 start, its best opening since 1991. DePaul defeated UW-Green Bay, 3-1 on Tuesday and is only three wins away from tying the school record for longest winning streak.


THE C-USA FORECAST
PRESEASON POLL
1. Louisville
2. Cincinnati
3. Houston
4. South Florida
5. DePaul
6. Tulane
7. TCU
8. Saint Louis
9. Marquette
10. Charlotte
11. Memphis
12. Southern Miss
13. East Carolina
14. UAB

PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
* Michelle Collier, South Florida
Stephanie Bishop, DePaul
Colleen Hunter, Saint Louis
Stacey Mercer, Louisville
Bonita Wise, Cincinnati
Jennifer Wittenburg, Houston

* Preseason Player of the Year

ELITE COMPANY
Houston coach Bill Walton is one of six active coaches who has made at least 12 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Russ Rose, Penn State 20
Kathy Gregory, UC Santa Barbara 20
John Dunning, Stanford 16
Brian Gimmillaro, Long Beach State 14
Jim Stone, Ohio State 12
Bill Walton, Houston 12

CONFERENCE USA TELEVISION NETWORK
C-USA has retained the services of Monarch Productions to coordinate the production and syndication of its newly created Conference USA Television Network.

The C-USA Television Network will carry the 2001 Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament final on Nov. 18 at 3:00 p.m. (CST). Please check your local listings for details.


ON THE WEB
For the latest Conference USA volleyball match recaps, scores, standings and notes, please refer to the league's official web site, www.c-usasports.com



GAME REC0RDS
School 3 4 5 Total
Charlotte 2-1 3-1 1-0 6-2
Cincinnati 1-3 1-0 0-1 2-4
DePaul 3-0 4-0 1-0 8-0
East Carolina 0-6 0-1 1-0 1-7
Houston 0-2 1-2 2-1 3-5
Louisville 4-1 1-0 0-0 5-1
Marquette 5-0 0-2 0-1 5-3
Memphis 5-0 1-0 1-0 8-0
Saint Louis 2-2 0-2 0-1 2-5
South Florida 5-3 0-0 0-0 5-3
Southern Miss 2-1 2-1 1-2 5-4
TCU 0-5 0-1 2-0 2-6
Tulane 4-2 2-1 0-1 6-4
UAB 1-0 3-1 2-0 6-1

NCAA STATISTICS
Here is where Conference USA ranked among the final 2000 national statistical leaders.

KILLS
2. Michelle Collier, USF 6.28
3. Jennifer Wittenburg, HOU 6.16
14. Colleen Hunter, SLU 5.27

ASSISTS
16. Melanie Mueller 13.80
19. Kara Jakusz, DPU 13.67

DIGS
4. Trish Ladusaw, CIN 4.71
17. Jennifer Wittenburg, HOU 4.17

TEAM KILLS
30. Louisville 16.86

TEAM ASSISTS
25. Louisville 15.47

TEAM DIGS
11. South Florida 19.35
22. DePaul 18.77

MATCH WINNING PERCENTAGE
14. South Florida 28-6;.823 28-6, .8

AGAINST CONFERENCES
America East 1-1
ACC 0-3
Atlantic Sun 4-1
Atlantic 10 1-1
Big East 3-2
Big Sky 1-1
Big South 3-0
Big Ten 0-5
Big 12 0-6
Big West 0-1
CAA 0-1
Horizon League 6-1
Independent 2-1
Ivy 1-0
Mid-American 4-2
Mid-Continent 2-0
Mid-Eastern 0-0
Missouri Valley 4-2
Mountain West 3-1
Northeast 3-0
Ohio Valley 7-1
Pac-10 0-4
Southeastern 5-6
Southern 0-0
Southland 3-1
SWAC 2-0
Sun Belt 4-3
WAC 2-1
WCC 2-1
Non Division I 0-0
TOTAL 63-44 (.589)

2001 HEALTHY CHOICE
C-USA TOURNAMENT
The 2001 Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament will take place Nov. 15-18 at Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion. The top 12 teams in the regular season standings advance to the tournament. The Nov. 18 championship match will be televised by the Conference USA Television Network. Please check your local listings for details.

COACHES RECORDS
Coach School Career
Lisa Marston, CHA 20-20 105-99
Reed Sunahara, CIN 26-14 45-54
Dawn Dockstader, DPU 68-69 68-69
Colleen Farrell, ECU 18-20 18-20
Bill Walton, HOU 323-181 533-236
Leonid Yelin, LOU 121-43 235-79
Laura Farina, MAR 32-39 32-39
Carrie Yerty, MEM 75-99 75-99
Marilyn Nolen, SLU 149-100 768-317-12
Nancy Mueller, USF 48-27 48-27
Santiago Restrepo, USM 5-4 80-36
Sandy Troudt, TCU 52-114 246-275
Betsy Becker, TUL 36-38 114-96
Melinda Claiborne, UAB 12-26 12-26

C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: Charlotte matched its best start in five years with a three-game sweep over Charleston Southern. KATHLEEN RAMOS led the 49ers in kills for the third match in a row with 16 and posted her fifth double-double with 11 digs. MOLLY MCDONALD also had a big night, recording 30 assists and two kills. Charlotte opens its conference season this weekend, hosting Cincinnati on Friday and Louisville on Saturday.

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati fell to No. 15 Ohio State in three games (30-20, 30-20, 30-28) at home on Tuesday. Junior BONITA WISE garnered eight kills and seven digs in the loss. Freshman BECKY STAHL also contributed, tying Wise's game-high total with eight kills. In the first weekend of C-USA play, Cincinnati takes on Charlotte on Friday and East Carolina on Saturday.

DE PAUL: DePaul extended its record to 8-0 after defeating UW-Green Bay, 3-1 on Tuesday. The Blue Demons only need three more wins to tie the school record for the longest win streak set in 1991. For the second consecutive match, junior KATE ENGEL led the Blue Demons, recording 15 kills and 11 digs. STEPHANIE BISHOP and LARA MARKS added 13 and 12 kills, respectively. DePaul travels to Milwaukee on Saturday to face Marquette in its Conference USA opener.

EAST CAROLINA: East Carolina lost to in-state rival North Carolina, 3-0 on Tuesday. Junior ROBYN DREWS led the Pirate offense with 11 kills on a .364 hitting percentage, while Senior LISA DONOVAN chipped in 17 assists. Senior AMANDA RUDOLPH continued her strong play, notching eight kills and 19 assists. East Carolina begins conference play on Friday as it hosts Louisville.

HOUSTON: Houston narrowly upset 16th-ranked Texas A on Tuesday, but instead fell 3-2 to the Aggies. Even with the loss, the Cougars demonstrated a vast improvement over an earlier match this season against the Aggies, when they were shutout (3-0). Senior JENNIFER WITTENBURG had a match-high 31 kills and four blocks. JENNY TANNEBERGER added 22 kills and hit .436 against the Aggies, while JANE ANNE KARASEK posted 22 kills.

LOUISVILLE: SONJA PERCAN had a season-high 24 kills and three blocks to lead Louisville to a 3-2 win over Tennessee. ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA added 21 kills with LESLEY DRURY notching a season-high seven digs. On the season, STACEY MERCER has hit a .339 hitting percentage, placing her fourth on Louisville's all-time hitting percentage chart. The Cardinals open conference play on the road against East Carolina on Friday and Charlotte on Saturday.

MARQUETTE: Marquette fell in a four-game decision against Illinois State on Tuesday. Senior outside hitter VESNA GRBAVAC posted match-highs in both kills (23) and digs (19). Freshman JENNIFER AMOBI finished with 14 kills and a team-best .357 hitting percentage. Marquette's next match will take place on Saturday when it hosts DePaul at 7 p.m.

MEMPHIS: With its 3-2 win over Ole Miss on Monday, Memphis has posted its best start ever with an 8-0 record. The Tigers best opening prior to this year, was during the 1997 season, a 7-0 start under head coach Carrie Yerty. ADRIENNE EDMONDS led the Tigers with 29 kills and a .333 hitting mark. AMIE HAMILTON powered the offense with 68 assists, while also totaling a team-high 15 digs.

SAINT LOUIS: Saint Louis competed at the Wisconsin Invitational Sept. 7-8. Wisconsin, ranked No. 3, was the highest-ranked team the Billikens have ever played in volleyball. COLLEEN HUNTER had a streak of 28 straight matches in double-digit kills end against Northern Iowa. Her last match without at least 10 kills was on Sept. 9, 2000, against Sacramento State.

SOUTH FLORIDA: South Florida defeated in-state rival Florida State, 3-1. MICHELLE COLLIER had 22 kills and 15 digs against the Seminoles. KELLY MATHIASMEIR also notched 13 kills and a .375 hitting percentage.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss fell to Mississippi State, 3-2 last Tuesday. KELLY TRIBBLE led Southern Miss with 19 kills and LISA DOWNEY had a season-high 23 digs. Southern Miss returns to action on Thursday against TCU.

TCU: TCU claimed its second consecutive victory with a 3-2 win over North Texas last Tuesday. Senior MARCI KING broke the school record career double-double record with her 21 kills and 11 digs . Senior LINDSAY HAYES posted 29 assists and six blocks, while ALLISON LYNCH recorded 11 digs.

TULANE: Freshman ANASTASIA KENON tallied 12 kills and a match-high 18 digs to lead Tulane to a three-game sweep of South Alabama. Kenon also chipped in with four block assists and two service aces, while junior BRITNEY HURST led all players with 18 kills. As a team, Tulane hit an impressive .301 with 51 kills and held the Jaguars to a .092 attack percentage.

UAB: UAB dropped a 3-0 match against Samford on Tuesday, breaking a five-match winning streak for the Blazers. Junior KRISTI LEE notched 10 kills and seven digs to lead the UAB. Sophomore KRISTA KETTERING added 44 assists and nine digs for the Blazers. UAB returns home to Bartow Arena on Friday to open Conference USA play against Memphis.