C-USA October 11 Volleyball Notebook

Anna Vaughn

Led by co-Player of the Week Anna Vaughn, TCU puts its perfect league ledger on the line when it hosts a pair of undefeated C-USA squads this weekend when the Horned Frogs face No. 22 Louisville on Friday and Cincinnati on Saturday. Memphis is the other league team that has yet to lose a conference match.


PLAYERS OF THE WEEK (10/10)
For the third time this season, Saint Louis middle blocker Aida Antanaviciute shares C-USA Player of the Week honors. The sophomore shares this week’s honor with TCU middle blocker Anna Vaughn, who has helped the Horned Frogs to their best-ever C-USA start at 4-0.

AIDA ANTANAVICIUTE, Saint Louis
MB, Jr., Siauliai, Lithuania (Geguziu)

Antanaviciute broke the C-USA and Saint Louis' school record for kills in a match when she tallied 45 in a five-game loss to Tulane. The sophomore had a pair of double-double performances on the weekend as Saint Louis rebounded to defeat Southern Miss. Antanaviciute recorded a 20-20 match against the Golden Eagles finishing with 29 kills and a career-high 22 digs.

ANNA VAUGHN, TCU
MB, So., Grapevine, Texas (Southlake Carroll)

Vaughn hit at an astounding .480 percentage for the weekend as TCU picked up a pair of road wins in league play at Charlotte and East Carolina. The sophomore had 18 kills against the 49ers and tallied a match-high 25 kills versus the Pirates.

SETTER OF THE WEEK (10/10)
Marquette senior Sarah Vernon collected her second Setter of the Week honor this season after leading the Golden Eagles to a pair of victories this week versus Wisconsin-Green Bay and DePaul.

SARAH VERNON, Marquette
S, Sr., Englewood, Colo. (Cherry Creek)

Vernon was just two digs shy of a triple-double in the Golden Eagles’ three-game victory over DePaul. She hit at a .529 clip to finish with 11 kills, while adding 40 assists and eight digs. In a non-conference match versus Wisconsin-Green Bay, Vernon recorded 44 assists on 52 Marquette kills. She led the team with a .464 hitting percentage and 20 points in the pair of 3-0 victories.

VOLLEYBALL HONOR ROLL
Outside hitter Abbey Szlanfucht led Charlotte on the week averaging 4.22 kills, 3.78 digs and 4.65 points per game. She had 22 points, including 21 kills, in a four-game loss to TCU, which was the fifth time this season Szlanfucht has crossed the 20-kill barrier. Teammate Molly McDonald totaled a season-high seven blocks, including one solo, against Houston. She totaled 102 assists and nine blocks in two conference matches last week.

While extending Cincinnati’s win streak to seven, sophomore setter Noel Olson helped the Bearcats to a 3-0 week, including wins over conference foes, UAB and USF. Olson posted her highest three-game assist total with two matches over 50, including 51 vs. USF and 54 against Western Kentucky. Teammate Julie DuPont became the school’s career leader in kills as she passed Becky Tenkman’s record of 1,844 kills and finished the weekend with 1,876.

Houston tabbed its first back-to-back victories of the season as junior Kariny Ritter posted 21 kills and 15 digs to help the Cougars beat conference foe Charlotte 3-2. Ritter’s double double set new career highs in both categories. Over the eight games last weekend, setter Jennifer Hohl also contributed in Houston’s 2-0 sweep for the weekend. Hohl dished out over 100 assists (101) in the two matches.

Louisville sophomore Ana Yartseva posted 13 kills and four blocks to help lead the Cardinals to a conference victory over UAB on Saturday night as U of L extended its record to 14-2 overall and a perfect 4-0 mark for the season.

Southern Miss’ Jazzmien Stephens recorded three consecutive matches with double-digit kills as the Golden Eagles went 1-2 for the week. The Lakewood, Calif., native also posted a season-high hitting percentage (.619) and tallied 52.5 points on the week. Teammate and senior Amy Truong recorded back-to-back triple-doubles, 11-kills, 26-assists, 13-digs, and 12-kills, 25-assists, and 13-digs against Memphis and Saint Louis, respectively.

Shelby Burton of Memphis hit .455 and totaled 19 kills on 33 attacks, while committing just four errors in seven games for the Tigers. The freshman came up big in the absence of regular middle hitter Melissa Nance. Burton was also the Tigers’ blocking leader, with seven blocks on the week, including a career-high five-block night at Tulane.

AMONG THE RANKED
Here is a look at the Oct. 10, AVCA poll:

USA Today/CSTV poll
1. Washington (63)
2. Minnesota
3. Hawai’i (2)
4. Nebraska
5. Penn State
6. Southern California
7. Colorado State
8. Ohio State
9. Texas
10. Florida
11. UCLA
12. Stanford
13. California
14. Saint Mary’s (Calif)
15. Santa Clara
16. Kansas State
17. Tennessee
18. Utah
19. UC Santa Barbara
20. Texas A&M
21. LOUISVILLE
22. Arizona
23. Illinois
24. Florida A&M
25. San Diego

C-USA CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY

Conference USA celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2004-05. A significant milestone for the league, the 10th year finds the conference preparing to embark on a new era in its already remarkable history.

C-USA will commemorate this milestone throughout the year with a multimedia campaign celebrating the past, present and future of the league. Several activities have been planned for the upcoming season that capture the history of C-USA and promote the student-athletes’ achievements in all 19 conference-sponsored sports.

One of the biggest aspects of this campaign is the naming of All-Decade teams, as well as a Player of the Decade and a Coach of the Decade for each of the league’s sports. In order to best determine the recipients of these honors, we will have a nomination process through the SIDs and then each current head coach in that sport will fill out a ballot with their selections after reviewing the list of nominees and supporting information. The winners will then be announced on November 17.

C-USA TOURNEY IN LOUISVILLE
The 2004 Chevron Texaco Conference USA Volleyball Tournament will take place Nov. 19-22 in Louisville, Ky. The University of Louisville will serve as the host school for the four-day event, with all matches being held at Cardinal Arena on the U of L campus. The championship match on Monday, Nov. 22 will be televised by CSTV and affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network. Louisville is the defending tournament champion.

2004 COACHES RECORDS
Coach School Career
Lisa Marston, CHA 68-80 153-159
Reed Sunahara, CIN 109-39 128-79
Dawn Dockstader, DPU 106-135 106-135
Colleen Munson, ECU 49-92 49-92
Bill Walton, HOU 372-230 582-285
Leonid Yelin, LOU 209-63 323-99
Pati Rolf, MAR 38-37 348-206
Carrie Yerty, MEM 158-132 158-132
Anne Kordes, SLU 9-10 9-10
Ricci Luyties, USM 4-11 4-11
Claire Lessinger, USF 3-11 3-11
Prentice Lewis, TCU 45-39 45-39
Betsy Becker, TUL 101-73 179-131
Melinda Claiborne, UAB 46-95 46-95

2004 GAME REC0RDS
School 3 4 5 Total
Charlotte 7-4 4-2 3-1 14-7
Cincinnati 9-3 3-2 0-1 12-6
DePaul 5-6 2-1 0-5 7-12
East Carolina 4-5 3-3 1-3 8-11
Houston 2-6 1-4 1-2 4-12
Louisville 8-0 5-2 1-0 14-2
Marquette 9-3 2-2 0-0 11-5
Memphis 9-2 7-2 2-0 18-4
Saint Louis 4-4 4-2 1-4 9-10
Southern Miss 1-5 1-5 2-1 4-11
TCU 4-2 7-2 2-1 13-5
Tulane 6-2 1-2 2-0 9-4
UAB 0-12 1-1 0-1 1-14
USF 3-6 0-4 0-1 3-11

YEAR TWO: NEW POINT SYSTEM
In a new system adopted by Conference USA volleyball coaches prior to the 2003 season, each player accumulates points for kills, block solos and assists and service aces. To calculate a players’ total points, please use the following formula: Kills + Solo Blocks + Service Aces. (block assists equal a half-point). In 2003, C-USA Player of the Year JULIE DUPONT led the league in this new category, tallying 6.26 ppg.

LEADING THE CONFERENCE
Here is a look at several of the top single-match performances in Conference USA during the 2004 season.

HITTING PERCENTAGE
.688 (12-1-16) by Myanna Hellsten (CIN) vs. Kent State, 9/4

KILLS
45 by Aida Antanaviciute (SLU) at Tulane, 10/8

ASSISTS
74 by Erin Ludeke (TCU) at East Carolina University, 10/9

ATTEMPTS
112 by Aida Antanaviciute (SLU) at Tulane, 10/8

ACES
12 by Kate Juedes (USM) vs. Alcorn, 10/5

BLOCKS
16 by Deva Fowler (TUL) vs. Saint Louis, 10/8

DIGS
35 by Jaci Gonzalez (HOU) at Ball State, 9/18

2004 PLAYER/SETTER OF THE WEEK
Here is a look at C-USA’s Players/Setters of the Week for the 2004 season:

S7 P- Julie DuPont (Cincinnati)
P- Aida Antanaviciute (Saint Louis)
S- Heather Watts (Memphis)
S13 P- Ellen Rehme (TCU)
S- Sarah Vernon (Marquette)
S20 P-Tiara Gilkey (Memphis)
S-Heather Watts (Memphis)
S27 P- Aida Antanaviciute (Saint Louis)
P-Tiara Gilkey (Memphis)
S-Heather Watts (Memphis)
O4 P-Dominika Szabo (TCU)
S-Erin Ludeke (TCU)
O11 P- Aida Antanaviciute (Saint Louis)
P- Anna Vaughn (TCU)
S- Sarah Vernon (Marquette)

C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: Charlotte dropped two conference matches at home this weekend to TCU and Houston moving the 49ers to 14-7 overall and 1-3 for league play. Abbey Szlanfucht averaged 4.22 kills and 3.78 digs per game in the matches, posting a double-double in each match. She went over the 20-kill barrier for the fifth time this season, with 21 kills against TCU on Friday night. The returns to Halton Arena for a non-conference tilt with Radford tonight.

CINCINNATI: The Bearcats enter the week with a 12-6 record and a seven-match winning streak, after sweeping Conference USA rivals UAB and USF over the weekend. Senior Julie DuPont passed Becky Tenkman’s record of 1,843 kills (1995-98) and finished the weekend with a tally of 1,876. Cincinnati, in just its 33rd year as a varsity program, is closing in on its 700-win mark. The Bearcats hold an all-time record of 699-437-8 as they host Morehead State tonight at 7:30 p.m. The win would claim the second time a C-USA school has reached the feat.

DE PAUL: DePaul was unable to stop Marquette’s offense, falling in three games Friday evening at the Al McGuire Center. The loss extended the Blue Demons’ losing streak to six and an overall record of 7-12. DePaul will face USF on Friday and UAB on Saturday; both matches are scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. CST.

EAST CAROLINA: Although ECU outblocked TCU, 12.5-to-2, and junior libero Johanna Bertini tallied a career-high 23 digs, the Pirates fell to the Horned Frogs in league play this weekend. The loss moves ECU to a 8-11 overall record and an even .500 mark in conference play. East Carolina returns to action next weekend when the Pirates travel to Memphis and Saint Louis to continue C-USA play.

HOUSTON: The Cougars capitalized on four players reaching double digits in kills and five landing in double-digit digs, as Houston now stands at 3-1 in C-USA play and 4-12 on the season. Cougar Kariny Ritter posted 21 kills and 15 digs to help beat conference foe Charlotte 3-2, while setter Jennifer Hohl dished out 101 assists on the week. Next, Houston faces a two-match home stand against conference foes, Cincinnati and Louisville on Oct. 15 and 16, respectively.

LOUISVILLE: The No. 21 Louisville Cardinals continued their blemish-free conference play with wins over USF and UAB. The U of L raised its record to 14-2 overall, as the team hit .300 and outblocked UAB 8-6. Louisville will attempt to protect its undefeated season as they face TCU and Houston on the road this weekend.

MARQUETTE: Marquette had its second-highest attack percentage (.301) of the season against DePaul’s hitting, while seven Golden Eagles had two or more assists. Jamie Mueller played outside hitter for the first time this season against DePaul and had 10 kills and a .348 attack percentage. Marquette next plays on Friday at 7 p.m. when it visits USF.

MEMPHIS: In a win over conference rival Tulane, Memphis extended its win streak to 11 straight matches, dating back to a 3-1 loss to Arkansas State on Sept. 14. Junior Nancy Nellans led the Tigers with 14 kills and nine digs in the 3-0 victory at Tulane, while freshmen Shelby Burton, who filled in per the absence of regular middle hitter Melissa Nance, hit .588 on 17 attacks and added five total blocks on the night. The Tigers return to action Friday against East Carolina. That match is slated to start at 7 p.m. in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Memphis will also host Charlotte on Saturday, Oct. 16.

SAINT LOUIS: The Billikens split two road matches at Tulane and Southern Miss this weekend. Aida Antanaviciute set school and Conference USA records with 45 kills against the Green Wave, but it wasn't quite enough as Tulane won in five. She followed up with 29 kills and 22 digs in a 3-1 win at Southern Miss. Saint Louis returns home to host its first C-USA matches of the season. The Billikens take on Charlotte on Fri., Oct. 15, and East Carolina on Sat., Oct. 16. Both matches start at 7 p.m. The match against ECU will be televised live on Charter Communications.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss was 1-2 during the week, snapping a seven-match losing streak with a win against Alcorn. Cassie Conley recorded a career-high 13 kills and eight block assists against Saint Louis. Teammate Kate Juedes had a career-high 12 aces against Alcorn, falling just one ace shy of tying a school record. The team finished with 20 aces against Alcorn, one shy of tying the school record for most aces in a match. Southern Miss faces South Alabama tonight at 7:00 p.m.

TCU: The Horned Frogs are off to their best-start ever in Conference USA play after winning their first four league matches of the season. TCU picked up a pair of road wins over the weekend taking matches from both Charlotte and East Carolina. The five-game match with the Pirates came down to the wire as sophomore Anna Vaughn led all players with a career-high 25 kills and a .467 hitting percentage. Junior Erin Ludeke dished out 74 assists, just one shy of the TCU all-time record. TCU returns home to host a pair of undefeated C-USA squads this weekend. No. 22 Louisville will be in Fort Worth on Friday, while the Bearcats come to town for a Saturday match-up.

TULANE: The Green Wave had its six-match home winning streak snapped on Saturday with a 3-0 loss to Memphis. Freshman outside hitter Sarah Weiland had a match-high 15 kills and sophomore Blair Moon added 10 to pace the Tulane offensive attack. Tulane had extended its home winning streak to five matches with a 3-2 victory over Saint Louis. Middle blocker Deva Fowler set a school-record with 16 blocks in the match versus the Billikens and Anastasia Kenon added a team-leading 24 kills. Tulane travels to Baton Rouge for a mid-week match against Southern. The Green Wave has never lost to the Lady Jags in 28 previous meetings.

UAB: The Blazers dropped both of its league matches last weekend to Cincinnati and No. 22 Louisville on one of the toughest road swings in Conference USA. Setter Jenna Link tallied 35 assists and hit at a .556 percentage in the loss to the Cardinals. Sophomore middle blocker Cassi Ociesa led the Blazers with a season-high .389 hitting percentage against the Bearcats. Following a mid-week match at Georgia State, UAB will return home to try to secure its first league win of the season against DePaul and Marquette.

USF: The Bulls put together the second-best hitting percentage of the season at .211 in their match with Cincinnati, but it was not enough to pick up a road win against the Bearcats. USF opened the weekend with a 3-0 loss at Louisville. Sophomore Johari Williams and freshman Michelle Stalbaum led the Bulls with nine kills each in the loss to Cincinnati. The Bulls will try to snap a three-match losing streak this weekend when they play host to DePaul and Marquette.