Sept. 24, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA has Tulane and Houston with an early 3-0 advantage in the conference regular season title race. The duo was two of four teams to go 2-0 in last week C-USA action. Marshall and Rice also picked up a pair of victories to push its records to 2-0 and 2-1, respectively.

Last week produced some stunning performances such as Tulsa's Julia Silva recording her second triple-double of the season. Her first was a 14 kill, 31 assist and 16 dig performance against North Carolina Central at the Charleston Southern Invitational on Sept. 1. Silva also had 14 kills, 31 assists and 12 digs in a 3-1 loss at Marshall Sunday. She remains the only player in C-USA to have a triple-double and one of three to have a triple-double in a three-game match and one of 16 in a four-game match this season. She has posted double-doubles in 15 of TU's 17 matches this season.

C-USA VOLLEYBALL NOTEBOOK & STATISTICS

TEAM CAPSULES

EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina (10-7, 1-1 C-USA) was the only team in the league to open conference action playing a pair of five-game matches. ECU lost to host Tulsa Friday before defeating SMU at home Sunday. Against SMU, senior Kelley Wernert topped the offense, recording her second double-double of the weekend and ninth of the season, with 26 kills and 17 digs. Sophomore Stephanie Turner put down 14 kills and added 18 digs for her fourth DD of the season. ECU hits the road as the Pirates travel to UCF Friday and Southern Miss Sunday.

HOUSTON
Houston (8-6, 3-0 C-USA) defeated Southern Miss, 3-1, Sunday and swept UCF Friday to extend its win streak to five matches. This is also the first time since 2001 that the Cougars have started 3-0 in C-USA play. Junior Justine Farmer recorded a career-high 36 kills in the winning effort and added 21 digs for her eighth double-double against Southern Miss. UH continues conference play Thursday when the Cougars travel across town to face Rice. Following Thursday's match, the Cougars have the week off.

MARSHALL
Marshall (9-7, 2-0 C-USA) was one of three C-USA teams that went 2-0 last week. MU defeated SMU and Tulsa in four games. Senior OH Kelly-Anne Billingy tallied match-highs of 28 kills against both opponents. Marshall has won four of its last five matches. Head coach Mitch Jacobs earned his 300th career victory over Tulsa Sunday at the Cam Henderson Center. Marshall hits the road as the Herd will be at Southern Mississippi Friday and UCF Sunday.

MEMPHIS
Memphis (12-5, 2-1 C-USA) split its C-USA matches last week with a sweep at UTEP and a 3-1 loss to Tulane. The Tigers got a team-high 18 kills from OH Ashley Liford, and fellow senior MB Shelby Burton added 16 kills and eight blocks against Tulane. Setter Laura Côté had a career day defensively, making a personal-best 20 digs. Côté ran the offense with 44 assists to complete a double-double outing. Burton also had a match-high 15 kills and made nine blocks in the UTEP win. Memphis will jump out of C-USA action for its next competition as they will travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to take on Southeast Missouri on Wednesday.

RICE
Rice (7-8, 2-1 C-USA) picked up its first set of C-USA wins with a 3-1 victory at Southern Miss and sweep of UCF. Junior Jessica Holderness paced the Owls with 11 kills and 15 digs, while sophomore Natalie Bogan added 10 kills and a career-best four aces against UCF. Holderness also had a DD at Southern Miss with 21 kills and 16 digs, while sophomore Jennifer McClean led the team with a career-best 23 kills and 24 digs. The Owls will look to avenge a 3-0 loss to Houston Thursday night at Fox Gym.

SMU
SMU (10-6, 0-2 C-USA) opened conference play with a 3-1 loss to Marshall on CSTV and a 3-2 loss at East Carolina. Senior Caitlin Rainbird and freshman Kathryn Wilkerson ended the weekend with a pair of double-doubles. Rainbird had 19 kills and 18 digs against Marshall and 19 kills and 21 digs at ECU. Wilkerson registered 11 kills and 16 digs vs. MU and notched 15 kills and 16 digs against the Pirates. Sophomore L Candice Davis had a career-high 35 digs at ECU. The Mustangs continue conference play Friday at UTEP and Sunday at Tulane.

SOUTHERN MISS
Southern Miss (9-9, 0-2 C-USA) went 1-2 last week with a 3-0 win at Southeastern Louisiana coupled with 3-1 losses to Rice and at Houston.Southern Miss placed four players in double-digit kills, led by Amanda Huntoon with 16, followed by Angela Hlavaty, Morgan Johnson and Ashley Petrinec with 12 kills apiece at Houston. Johnson and Petrinec also recorded double-digit digs with 13 and 12 digs, respectively. Southern Miss host Marshall and East Carolina in a Friday-Sunday weekend series.

TULANE
Tulane (13-3, 3-0 C-USA) swept UAB and defeated Memphis, 3-1, in C-USA action. The Green Wave neutralized Memphis' offense with a strong serving game that included 12 aces, and had three hitters with at least 19 kills. Tulane also snapped a six-match losing streak to the Tigers. The team made quick work of UAB, as the Green Wave hit a blistering .373 for the match. Sophomore OH Ksenija Vlaskovic led all players with 19 kills and a .353 clip. The Green Wave, winners of six out of its last seven, return to Fogelman Arena to face Tulsa on Friday.

TULSA
For the second time this season, senior S Julia Silva recorded a triple-double. Silva had 14 kills, 31 assists and 12 digs in a 3-1 loss at Marshall Sunday. She remains the only player in C-USA to have a triple-double and one of three to have a triple-double in a three-game match and one of 16 in a four-game match this season. Tulsa (13-4, 1-1 C-USA) went 2-1 on the week, with a 3-1 win over city-rival ORU and a 3-2 victory against East Carolina Friday. The Hurricane will return to action Friday at Tulane.

UAB
Playing on its home floor for the first time this season, UAB (9-6, 1-2 C-USA) defeated UTEP, 3-1, in Bartow Arena Sunday. Juniors Ivana Bozic and Nevena Stefanov each finished with double-doubles against the Miners. Bozic finished with a match-high 19 kills and 21 digs to go along with four service aces. Stefanov had 56 assists in her second match back from injury, in addition to making 10 digs on the defensive end. The Blazers will be in action on Tuesday when they travel to play at Mercer.

UCF
UCF (8-8, 0-2 C-USA) dropped a pair of 3-0 matches to Houston and at Rice over the weekend. Erin Campbell paced the Knights with 13 kills, while also registering seven digs and two block assists against the Owls. UCF played without Stephanie Serna, who leads the team in kills, due to an injury, as well as Schanell Neiderworder and Kelly Weaver, who are also working through injuries. UCF will host East Carolina and Marshall this weekend at the new UCF Arena.

UTEP
Amy Sanders led UTEP (6-8, 0-3 C-USA) with 19 kills and 15 digs in a 3-1 loss to UAB on Sunday. Sanders also contributed a team-high four aces. She was the only Miner to post double figure kills. Elsa Reyes registered 14 digs while Patty Jarmoc hit .500 for the match. Sanders and Catherine Chavez recorded double-digit kills with 14 and 10, respectively, in a 3-0 loss to Memphis Friday. The Miners return home in a two-match series against SMU and Tulsa on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

C-USAces
 After 12-consecutive road matches, East Carolina finally played its first home match inside Minges Coliseum Sunday. The Pirates defeated SMU in a five-game thriller.

 UAB senior Brianna Galvin hustled for 17 digs against UTEP to take over fourth place on the school's all-time career digs list Sunday.

 Junior Nevena Stefanov became the third setter in UAB history, and 19th all-time in Conference USA, to eclipse the 3,000 career assists milestone. She's currently averaging 11.51 APG, fourth-best in C-USA.

 Marshall head coach Mitch Jacobs earned his 300th career victory with a 3-1 win over Tulsa Sunday at the Cam Henderson Center.

 Tulsa head coach Ed Allen picked up his 400th career victory as TU swept Northwestern State in the second match of the SFA Ladyjack Invitational on Sept. 8. The Golden Hurricane finished second to host Stephen F. Austin. He now stands at 405 career wins.

 Memphis head coach Carrie Yerty made history on Sept. 1, when the Tigers swept Indiana State at the Eastern Illinois Pepsi Challenge. The win propelled her into the top spot on Memphis' all-time coaching victories list. She now stands at 222 career wins.

 Marshall senior libero Maggie Arias tallied a match-high 20 digs against Indiana to become the Herd's all-time leader in that category. Arias, who has recorded 255 digs on the season and totaled 1,534 over her career, passed Bridget Repsher (1,428) who played for the Herd from 1991-1994.

 After she earned Conference USA Co-Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors on Monday, East Carolina senior Kelley Wernert was selected as the CVU.com National Player of the Week for Sept. 10 through Sept. 16. This marks the first national weekly award for an ECU volleyball player. A 6-0 outside hitter from Hoffman Estates, Ill., Wernert led the Pirates to a 4-0 week and the George Washington Invitational championship, their first tournament title since 2005. On the week, Wernert averaged 6.08 kills per game while hitting .325. She also averaged 0.85 blocks, 0.85 aces and 2.69 digs per game. She is tied for first in C-USA with 5.09 kills per game average.