Louisville is back in the national rankings this week; DePaul remains unbeaten at 9-0. Memphis is off to the best start in its history; Catch up with all that's happening in Conference USA Volleyball in this week's notebook.


PLAYER OF THE WEEK
JENNIFER WITTENBURG, OH, Houston

Jennifer Wittenburg is the Conference USA Player of the Week for the period ending Sept. 23. Wittenburg led the Cougars to a 2-1 record last week, including back-to-back wins over Tulane and Memphis. She posted 31 kills in a loss against nationally-ranked Texas A&M and followed that five days later with another 31-kill performance against Memphis. It marked her sixth and seventh 30-plus kill performance of her Houston career. For the week, Wittenburg led the team with 86 kills and a .307 hitting percentage. Defensively, she tallied 12 blocks and 35 digs.

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

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Kansas State (70), Colorado (51), Nevada (38), Missouri (37), Duke (21), Washington State (11), Michigan State (4), Kansas (2).

AMONG THE RANKED
After posting a 2-0 conference record to open Conference USA play, Louisville is ranked No. 25 in the latest AVCA/USA Today Poll. The Cardinals defeated East Carolina (3-1) and Charlotte (3-0) and currently are tied with Houston with the best conference mark, 2-0.

FOR THE RECORD
DePaul's senior setter KARA JAKUSZ set the C-USA career assist record after posting 49 assists against Marquette. She now has compiled 5,220 assists and surpassed the old mark of 5,180 that was held by Marquette's Liz Egasti (1997-00).

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

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of the top individual performers in C-USA from Sept. 18-23:

BONITA WISE, CIN: Led the team in hitting percentage for the week with a .384 average. Ranks sixth in school history with a career .271 hitting percentage.

CHRISTA DIRR, DPU: She led the Blue Demons in a win over Marquette, posting a .500 hitting average and 15 kills.

AMANDA RUDOLPH, ECU: Recorded her fourth double-double of the season with an 11 kill and 14 dig performances against Louisville.

SONJA PERCAN, LOU: She hit .254 for the week with 58 kills in three matches, leading the Cardinals to a 2-0 conference record.

ERIN FREER, MAR: Posted season-highs in digs (15) and service aces (3) against DePaul.
AMIE HAMILTON, MEM: Broke the school record for assists against with 52 against Samford. Currently ranks fifth in assists with 1,714.

MARCI KING, TCU: She posted her 45th career double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs against Saint Louis.

ANASTASIA KENON, TUL: Posted a pair of double-double performances against South Alabama (12 kills; 18 digs) and Houston (18 kills; 21 digs).

ALESSANDRA DOMINGOS, USF: Tallied four kills and nine digs in a win over Southern Miss.

MARCI KING, TCU: She posted her first career double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs against Indiana State.

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 2-2 4-1 1-0 7-3
Cincinnati 1-3 2-1 0-1 3-5
DePaul 3-0 4-0 2-0 9-0
East Carolina 0-6 0-3 1-0 1-9
Houston 0-2 1-2 4-1 5-5
Louisville 5-1 2-0 0-0 7-1
Marquette 5-0 0-2 0-2 5-4
Memphis 5-0 3-0 1-1 10-1
Saint Louis 2-2 1-2 0-1 3-5
South Florida 5-3 2-0 0-0 7-3
Southern Miss 2-1 2-2 1-3 5-6
TCU 0-5 0-1 2-0 3-7
Tulane 5-2 2-1 0-2 7-5
UAB 1-1 3-2 2-0 6-4

AGAINST CONFERENCES
America East 1-1
ACC 0-3
Atlantic Sun 5-1
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 6-3
WAC 2-1
WCC 2-1
Non Division I 0-0
TOTAL 66-44 (.600)

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 21-21 106-100
Reed Sunahara, CIN 27-15 46-55
Dawn Dockstader, DPU 69-69 69-69
Colleen Farrell, ECU 18-22 18-22
Bill Walton, HOU 325-181 535-236
Leonid Yelin, LOU 123-43 237-79
Laura Farina, MAR 32-40 32-40
Carrie Yerty, MEM 78-100 78-100
Marilyn Nolen, SLU 150-101 769-318-12
Nancy Mueller, USF 50-27 50-27
Santiago Restrepo, USM 5-7 80-39
Sandy Troudt, TCU 54-115 248-276
Betsy Becker, TUL 37-39 115-97
Melinda Claiborne, UAB 12-28 12-28


C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: Charlotte went 2-1 for the week, defeating Charleston Southern and Cincinnati before falling to Louisville on Saturday. Against the Bearcats, the 49ers were led by double-double performances from KATHLEEN RAMOS and COURTNEY BURG. Ramos paced the team with 21 kills and 22 digs, while Burg finished with 10 kills and 15 digs. The 49ers open a six-match road swing when they take on North Carolina on Tuesday.

CINCINNATI: After opening C-USA action with a 3-1 loss to Charlotte, Cincinnati bounced back on Sunday, sweeping East Carolina, 3-0. Junior BONITA WISE led the Bearcats with a.384 hitting percentage for the week. Against ECU, Wise posted an impressive performance, notching 14 kills and a .480 hitting percentage to snap a five-match losing streak for the Bearcats.

DE PAUL: DePaul extended its record to 9-0, its best start in school history and longest win streak since 1991 (11 matches) with a win over Marquette, 3-2. Senior KARA JAKUSZ set the C-USA career assist record against the Golden Eagles. Her 49 assists pushed her to 5,220, surpassing Marquette's Liz Egasti's previous mark of 5,180. STEPHANIE BISHOP also added 20 kills and 10 digs in the historic win. DePaul returns home and takes on in-city rival Loyola-Chicago on Tuesday.

EAST CAROLINA: East Carolina fell to Louisville (3-1) and Cincinnati (3-0) in C-USA play. Junior ROBYN DREWES tallied 30 kills and 12 blocks to lead the Pirates. Senior AMANDA RUDOLPH also posted her fourth double-double of the season with an 11 kill and 14 dig performance against the Cardinals. The Pirates will next host Campbell on Tuesday.

HOUSTON: Houston improves to 4-2 on the season, with its last four matches playing to five games. The Cougars notched back-to-back wins over Tulane and Memphis. It marked the seventh straight season the Cougars won their league opener. JANE ANNE KARASEK and JENNY TANNEBERGER were a lethal combination for Houston, with Karasek posting 54 kills and Tanneberger leading the team with a .398 attack percentage, including only 12 errors in 103 chances.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals are undefeated in C-USA play after claiming victories over East Carolina and Charlotte this past weekend. SONJA PERCAN led Louisville 58 kills and hitting .254 for the week. Against East Carolina, ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA recorded match-highs in kills (26) and digs (11), while Stacie Mercer added 11 kills.

MARQUETTE: Marquette fell in a five-game decision against DePaul on Saturday. Freshman ERIN FREER provided the Golden Eagles with a boost off the bench in the loss. Freer recorded a season-high three service aces and 15 digs in the DePaul match. Junior DANIELLE HAGEN also came through with her best effort of the year against the Blue Demons with a season-high 15 attacks and career-high 21 digs.

MEMPHIS: Memphis earned three wins before falling 3-2 to conference foe Houston on Sunday. Even with the loss, the Tigers have recorded their best start in school history. The Tigers best opening prior to this year, was during the 1997 season, a 7-0 start under head coach Carrie Yerty. AMIE HAMILTON has been the driving force in Memphis' top performances. Hamilton led the team in service aces (16) and digs (50) for the week. She also broke the school record for assists in a three-game match with 52 against Samford. Memphis will face Saint Louis twice in less than a week when it takes on the Billikens on Tuesday and heads to St. Louis for a Friday matchup.

SAINT LOUIS: COLLEEN HUNTER led Saint Louis in a 3-1 win over TCU. Hunter posted nine kills and a career-high five service aces against the Horned Frogs. Saint Louis will compete against Memphis on Tuesday, marking coach Marilyn Nolen's 250th coaching match at the helm of the Billikens.

SOUTH FLORIDA: ALESSANHDRA DOMINGOS led South Florida to a 3-1 win over Southern Miss. Domingos recorded 61 assists and nine digs against the Golden Eagles. For the week, she posted 14 kills and a hitting percentage of .610.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss lost to TCU and South Florida to open conference play. NICKI TRIBBLE set a career-high in service aces with five against the Bulls. ANDREA BUSH also added nine kills, while hitting .438. Southern Miss returns to action on Tuesday against Tulane.

TCU: TCU defeated Southern Miss, 3-2 before falling to Saint Louis in a four-game match last Saturday. MARCI KING led TCU, posting 58 kills and 39 digs for the week. With double-double performances against North Texas, Southern Miss and Saint Louis, she has now tallied a career school record 45 in her career.

TULANE: Tulane went 2-1 last week, including a 3-0 win over UAB on Saturday. Against the Blazers, Freshman ANASTASIA KENON hit .400 with 16 kills and only two errors in 35 swings. Kenon led all players for the week, averaging 4.18 kills and 4.0 digs per game. DEVA FOWLER also added 12 kills, while junior BRITNEY HURST posted a match-high 12 digs.

UAB: UAB fell to Memphis (3-1) and Tulane (3-0) over the weekend. DINA KATSOULIS compiled 18 kills and a .571 hitting percentage against the Tigers. KAREN BOYD also chipped in 11 kills and a match-high 14 digs.