C-USA Oct. 18 Volleyball Notebook

Lena Ustymenko

“DIG FOR THE CURE”
Under Charlotte Head Coach Lisa Marston’s initiative, the 49ers have brought together the 13 other league schools to join forces in hopes to raise $42,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Charlotte raised nearly $3,000 last year and has challenged every school to match this figure.

Each school has designated one match either in October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or November as its DFTC match. Individual sponsors can pledge money per dig earned by their team in the match as well as provide flat donations. The money raised will go directly to the Komen Foundation in each respective local community.

To find out more about Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, please go to www.komen.org.

DFTC MATCHES

Oct. 16 - Marquette at UAB
Oct. 19 - Mississippi State at Southern Miss
Oct. 22 - Memphis at Louisville
Oct. 23 - Tulane at Charlotte
Houston at DePaul
Southern Miss at East Carolina
Oct. 24 - Saint Louis at Cincinnati
Oct. 29 - Marquette at Memphis
Nov. 5 - Tulane at Marquette
Nov. 6 - Memphis at USF


Marquette's outside hitter Kimberley Todd is the first freshman to earn C-USA Player of the Week honors this season as she helped the Golden Eagles to a weekend sweep of USF and UAB. The freshman set a collegiate best with 24 kills in a 3-1 win over USF on Friday night followed by a 3-0 rally against UAB on Saturday.

KIMBERLEY TODD, Marquette
OH/MB, Fr., Oshawa, Ont./Anderson CVI

Todd surpassed her previous collegiate best by 10 kills when she tallied 24 against the Bulls. She averaged a team best 5.0 kills per game and hit .375 percent. She also had the most points of any Marquette player during the week, scoring 38.5 points, an average of 5.5 per game.

SETTER OF THE WEEK (10/18)
Charlotte's Molly McDonald collected her first 2004 Setter of the Week accolade as she led the 49ers to a come-from-behind, five-game win against Saint Louis on Friday night. On the week, Charlotte split a pair of conference matches on the road with a win against the Billikens and a loss to league co-leader Memphis on Saturday.

MOLLY MCDONALD, Charlotte
S, Sr., Santa Cruz, Calif. (Harbor/Vision)

McDonald totaled 112 assists in two conference matches this week, including a career high-tying 69 in the conference win against Saint Louis. She helped her squad hit a combined .374 over the last three games, including .571 (10 for 14) in the decisive game five. McDonald averaged 14.0 assists per game across the two matches, while adding nine digs and four block assists on the week.

AMONG THE RANKED
Here is a look at the Oct. 18, AVCA poll:

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

2004 COACHES RECORDS
Coach School Career
Lisa Marston, CHA 69-81 154-160
Reed Sunahara, CIN 111-40 130-80
Dawn Dockstader, DPU 107-136 107-136
Colleen Munson, ECU 49-94 49-94
Bill Walton, HOU 372-232 582-287
Leonid Yelin, LOU 211-63 325-99
Pati Rolf, MAR 40-37 350-206
Carrie Yerty, MEM 160-132 160-132
Anne Kordes, SLU 10-11 10-11
Ricci Luyties, USM 5-12 5-12
Prentice Lewis, TCU 46-40 46-40
Betsy Becker, TUL 103-73 181-131
Melinda Claiborne, UAB 46-98 46-98
Claire Lessinger, USF 4-12 4-12

2004 GAME REC0RDS
School 3 4 5 Total
Charlotte 7-5 4-2 4-1 15-8
Cincinnati 10-3 4-3 0-1 14-7
DePaul 6-7 2-1 0-5 8-13
East Carolina 4-7 3-3 1-3 8-13
Houston 1-6 1-5 2-3 4-14
Louisville 10-0 5-2 1-0 16-2
Marquette 10-3 3-2 0-0 13-5
Memphis 11-2 7-2 2-0 20-4
Saint Louis 5-4 4-2 1-5 10-11
Southern Miss 1-6 1-5 3-1 5-12
TCU 4-3 8-2 2-1 14-6
Tulane 8-2 1-2 2-0 11-4
UAB 0-15 1-1 0-1 1-17
USF 4-6 0-5 0-1 4-12

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
.696 (17-1-23) by Deva Fowler (TUL) vs. Southern Miss, 10/16

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)
O18 P-Kimberley Todd (Marquette)
S-Molly McDonald (Charlotte)

NOTABLE PLAYERS
ATTACK OF THE BIRDS:
The Golden Eagles’ Sarah Vernon had Marquette’s best attack percentage of the week, hitting .444, while averaging 13.2 assists per game. The setter hit 75 percent against UAB on Saturday night.

ABBEY ROAD:
Charlotte’s Abbey Szlanfucht posted a career-high 30 kills on .400 hitting to lead Charlotte past Saint Louis on Friday night.

VAUGHN TRAP
Anna Vaughn of TCU helped the Horned Frogs to its first-ever win over Cincinnati. She posted double kills in both matches and led the team in attack percentage (.364).

FLYING SAUCERS
Setter Erin Ludeke dished out 67 assists in TCU’s win against Cincinnati on Saturday night that equaled the Horned Frogs’ league win tally of five from last year.

BRIGHT LIGHT
In a weekend sweep of TCU and Houston, Louisville’s Bing Sun proved to be a key asset for the Cardinal squad. Sun had 13 kills and two blocks to lead the U of L to a win over Houston on Saturday night.

A Pair of Bears
Two Bearcats recorded notable stats on the weekend as middle blocker Rachel Torblaa picked up 12 kills in each of Cincinnati’s three matches and setter Noel Olson hit .667 against non-conference Morehead State. Olson led the Bearcats to a .417 hitting performance against Morehead State and .283 effort on the week.

KILO NELLANS
Memphis’ Nancy Nellans reached her 1,000th kill in just two-plus seasons to become the 17th Tiger and just third junior in school history to down 1,000 kills.

THE WATTAGE INCREASES
Memphis setter Heather Watts managed to put up 47 assists in a 3-0 win over ECU and followed that up with 42 assists in a sweep of Charlotte. Watts leads the league with 1,142 assists and has posted 14.0 assists per game in C-USA play.

SUNSHINE STATE REPRESENATION
USF’s Flavia Silveira led the team in kills with 34 and had consecutive double-doubles as the Bulls went 1-1 on the week. Setter Juliana Nogueira collected 95 assists for USF and hit .500 against conference foe Marquette on Friday night.

DEVOUT DUO
In a five-game loss to Charlotte on Friday night, Saint Louis’ Aida Antanaviciute topped the 30-kill plateau for the sixth time this season. Junior Lauren Boissevain distributed 102 assists, while hitting .750 on the week as the Billikens split a
pair of conference matchups.

C-USA NOTEBOOK
CHARLOTTE: Charlotte split a pair of conference matches last weekend, coming back from two games down to defeat Saint Louis on Friday night. Abbey Szlanfucht had the best hitting night of her career, totaling 30 kills on .400 hitting to lead the 49ers, while setter Molly McDonald tied her career high with 69 assists. Charlotte plays three times this week, beginning with a non-conference tilt against Radford on Tuesday night. The Niners’ match against Tulane on Saturday marks Charlotte’s “Dig For The Cure” match, where fans can pledge money to benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati’s loss to TCU marked the first time the Bearcats have fallen to the Horned Frogs in four all-time matchups. Cincinnati extended its home match win streak to 22 with a win over Morehead State on Tuesday. The streak is the third active streak in the nation. Senior Julie DuPont tallied 11 kills against TCU extending her steak of matches with at least 10 kills to 30. Teammate Leslie Newell established a new season-best with 18 kills against the Horned Frogs. The Bearcats travel to Dayton, Ohio to face Wright State on Tuesday night.

DE PAUL: DePaul snapped a six-match losing streak on Friday night as the Blue Demons beat conference foe UAB, 3-0. Saturday evening, the Blue Demons fell to USF, despite Janet Goreham’s 15 kills and .268 attack percentage. Senior Amy Holmes tallied 43 assists and helped the Blue Demons to their second best hitting performance of the season against UAB. DePaul will return home this weekend to take on TCU and Houston on Friday and Saturday, respectively at the DePaul Athletic Center. Both matches are slated to begin 7 p.m.

EAST CAROLINA: East Carolina dropped both of its road matches this weekend with losses to Memphis and Saint Louis. The Pirates fell to 2-4 in conference play and 8-13 overall. Sophomore Jaime Bevan led the Pirates with 12 kills on Saturday against the Billikens, while junior middle blocker Paige Howell had 11. East Carolina returns home this weekend to host Tulane and Southern Miss. The Billikens’ match against the Golden Eagles is scheduled as ECU’s "Dig For The Cure" match.

HOUSTON: The Cougars fell to two of the leagues’ top squads Cincinnati and Louisville last weekend. With the losses, Houston drops to 4-14 on the season and 3-3 in C-USA play. Next week the Cougars take to the road as they face Marquette and DePaul on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinal squad justified its No. 21 national ranking as Louisville swept TCU and Houston last weekend. The U of L boosted its blemish-free conference record to 6-0, while extending its overall mark to 16-2. Louisville’s Lena Ustymenko had an outstanding performance against the Horned Frogs, posting 44 attacks on just four errors and recording 9 digs for the Cardinals. Louisville will be back in action on Saturday as it hosts Saint Louis in the Cardinal Arena. The match is set for 2 p.m.

MARQUETTE: Marquette posted wins over conference foes USF and UAB this weekend marking the longest win streak of the season with four. Freshman outside hitter and this week’s C-USA Player of the Week Kimberley Todd set a collegiate best with 24 kills as Marquette defeated USF on Friday. The following game, the Golden Eagles were led by sophomore outside hitter Jamie Mueller, who had 14 kills and 30 total attacks. Marquette returns home to take on Houston at 7 p.m., at the Al McGuire Center on Friday.

MEMPHIS: Junior Nancy Nellans became the 17th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-career kill mark as the Tigers improved to 20-4 with a sweep of Charlotte Saturday evening at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Memphis has now won 13 consecutive matches and is off to a 5-0 start in C-USA action, its best start as a league member. Freshman Ashley Liford was the lone Tiger to post double figures in kills on the week and now ranks tied for 11th all-time among Memphis freshmen with 191 kills. The Tigers’ will now prepare for a three-match road trip that includes matches against Mississippi on Tuesday, followed by face-offs with league powerhouses Louisville and Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday.

SAINT LOUIS: The Billikens split two C-USA home matches last weekend with a five-set loss to Charlotte and a victory over East Carolina on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Aida Antanaviciute drilled 32 kills against Charlotte and hit .463 en route to 23 kills against ECU. Saint Louis will be challenged in three straight road matches, beginning with its final non-conference match against intrastate rival Southwest Missouri State this evening. The Billikens next face Louisville and Cincinnati Friday and Saturday.

SOUTHERN MISS: The Golden Eagles dropped to 5-12 and 0-5 in the league, following a 3-0 loss to Tulane. Southern Miss will close out its non-conference home schedule against in-state rival Mississippi State on Tuesday night. The match will be part of the “Dig For The Cure” program, a league-wide effort to raise money to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

TCU: After falling to No. 21 Louisville on Friday night in the Horned Frogs’ University Rec Center, TCU bounced back with its first-ever victory over C-USA foe Cincinnati. TCU climbed to 14-6 overall and 5-1 in C-USA action following this weekends’ split. The five league-wins ties the total league-wins from 2003 for the Frogs. Seniors Dominika Szabo and Ellen Rehme notched 20-plus kills in the Horned Frogs battle against the Bearcats, with Szabo tabbing a career high and match-leading 29 kills. TCU travels to Chicago and Milwaukee this week to take on DePaul and Marquette in more C-USA action.

TULANE: Tulane defeated Southern Miss Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena to better its C-USA record to 3-2 and overall record to 11-4 on the season. Senior middle blocker Deva Fowler had 17 kills and three blocks to become just the second player in school history to post 1,000 kills and 500 blocks. Fowler now has 1,259 kills and 502 blocks on her career with the Green Wave. Tulane returns to action on Tuesday, when the Green Wave travels across town to take on New Orleans at 7 p.m. at the Lakefront Arena.

UAB: The Blazers had their best-hitting game in game three against Marquette, but could not tally a win, as they fell, 18-30 for 0-3 on the night. UAB was led by Isabel Oquendo’s 13 kills and .462 hitting percentage. The Blazers return to action on Friday night as they travel to Tampa, Fla., to face USF at 7 p.m.

USF: The Bulls snapped a three-match win streak with a loss to Marquette on Friday, but rallied back to record a win over DePaul the following day. USF’s Juliana Nogueira went 5-for-8 at the net with just one error for a .500 hitting percentage while adding 52 assists and seven digs against Marquette. In the Bulls’ victory over DePaul, Flavia Silveira had no kills and six errors in the first game, yet ended the match with a team-leading 19 kills and only six errors. USF will host Florida International on Tuesday in The Corral.

C-USA PRESEASON POLL
The Conference USA volleyball coaches have selected Louisville as the preseason favorite to win the 2004 C-USA Championship. Cincinnati’s Julie DuPont was named the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year after leading the league in kills with 5.43 per game last season.

2004 PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1. Louisville (25-6, 12-1 in 2003)
2. Cincinnati (27-6, 12-1)
3. Houston (12-20, 6-7)
4. Tulane (25-7, 9-4)
5. Marquette (14-16, 8-5)
6. Memphis (30-6, 9-4)
7. TCU (20-16, 5-8)
8. USF (12-30, 6-7)
9. DePaul (11-20, 3-10)
10. Southern Miss (27-6, 11-2)
11. Saint Louis (9-22, 2-11)
12. UAB (14-20, 6-7)
13. Charlotte (8-24, 1-12)
14. East Carolina (10-21, 1-12)

ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
Theresa Coughlin, Marquette
Julie DuPont, Cincinnati*
Deva Fowler, Tulane
Lena Ustymenko, Louisville
Bing Sun, Louisville
Heather Watts, Memphis
* Preseason Player of the Year

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 ChevronTexaco 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.

DID YOU KNOW?
Since 1996, no C-USA school has been able to repeat as tournament champions. USF is the only school to win consecutive C-USA Tournament titles. No C-USA Tournament champion has been able to repeat since the Bulls captured the 1995 and 1996 titles. Here is a look at the last eight champions.

1995 USF
1996 USF
1997 Houston
1998 Louisville
1999 Cincinnati
2000 Louisville
2001 DePaul
2002 USF
2003 Louisville

REGULAR SEASON HISTORY
In the last eight years, Louisville either claimed or shared a league-record - five C-USA regular season titles. USF follows with four titles, while Cincinnati has claimed three. Here is a look at each year’s winner:

1995 Louisville (12-0)
1996 USF (13-1)
1997 USF (15-1)
1998 Louisville (14-2)
1999 Cincinnati (13-3)
Louisville (13-3)
2000 USF (5-1)
2001 Cincinnati (14-2)
2002 USF (12-1)
Louisville (12-1)
2003 Cincinnati (12-1)
Louisville (12-1)

TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
With numerous tournaments dotting the schedules of most C-USA teams, a number of league squads and individuals have fared well claiming tournament titles and MVP honors. Below is a look at those accomplishments through the start of 2004 conference play:

SpringHill Suites Tournament (Charlotte)
Champion: Charlotte
MVP: Abbey Szlanfucht

Vernon Manor Bearcat Invitational (Cincinnati)
Champion: Cincinnati
MVP: Julie DuPont

Mizuno Wildcat Classic (Davidson, N.C.)
Champion: DePaul
MVP: Janet Goreham

Memphis Volleyball Invitational (Memphis)
Champion: Memphis
MVP: Heather Watts

IU Credit Union Invitational (Bloomington, Ind.)
Champion: Saint Louis
MVP: Aida Antanaviciute

Kathy Trosclair Tournament (New Orleans, La.)
Champion: Tulane
MVP: Katie Case

U of L Courtyard by Marriott Tournament (Louisville)
Champion: Louisville
MVP: Not awarded

SpringHill Suites Classic (Charlotte)
Champion: Charlotte
MVP: Lisa Newell

New England Challenge (Boston, Mass.)
Champion: TCU
MVP: Ellen Rehme

Ashbury Suites Classic (Mobile, Ala.)
Champion: Southern Miss
MVP: Not awarded

MSU/Microtel Classic (Starkville, Miss.)
Champion: Memphis
MVP: Tiara Gilkey

Raider Challenge (Dayton, Ohio)
Champion: Louisville
MVP: Bing Sun

Fairfield Invitational (Fairfield, Conn.)
Champion: Saint Louis
MVP: Aida Antanaviciute

UNC-Greensboro Invitational (Greensboro, N.C.)
Champion: Memphis
MVP: Heather Watts

Toyota Husky Classic (Storrs, Conn.)
Champion: Marquette
MVP: Erica Heisser

C-USA VS. OTHER CONFERENCES
Here is a look at how C-USA schools have fared against other Division I Conferences.
America East 4-0
ACC 3-5
Atlantic 10 3-0
Atlantic Sun 6-7
Big EAST 6-2
Big South 4-1
Big 10 1-6
Big 12 0-3
Colonial 4-1
Gateway 1-0
Horizon 5-6
Independent 0-2
Ivy 1-0
MAC 3-5
Metro Atlantic 4-0
Mid Continent 3-5
Mid-Eastern 4-0
Missouri Valley 4-5
Mountain West 0-2
Non Division I 3-1
Northeast 1-0
OVC 9-3
Pac 10 2-5
Patriot 1-0
SEC 1-7
Southern 10-4
Southland 4-5
SWAC 7-2
Sun Belt 7-6
WAC 1-2
West Coast 1-4

C-USA VOLLEYBALL CONTACTS

Charlotte:
Matt McCullough
mmccull1@email.uncc.edu
www.charlotte49ers.com

Cincinnati:
Shawn Sell
sellsn@email.uc.edu
www.ucbearcats.com

DePaul: Alicia Powers
apowers1@depaul.edu
www.depaulbluedemons.com

East Carolina:
Kerwin Lonzo
lonzok@mail.ecu.edu
www.ecupirates.com

Houston:
Jason Wells
jmwells@central.uh.edu
www.uhcougars.com

Louisville:
Nancy Worley
nasmit01@louisville.edu
www.uoflsports.com

Marquette:
Blain Fowler
blain.fowler@marquette.edu
www.gomarquette.com

Memphis:
Jason Redd
jredd@memphis.edu
www.gotigersgo.com

Saint Louis:
Chuck Yahng
yahngc@slu.edu
www.slubillikens.com

Southern Miss:
Shirley Jones-Hill
shirley.jones-hill@usm.edu
www.southernmiss.com

TCU:
Samantha Moy
s.moy@tcu.edu
www.gofrogs.com

Tulane:
Richie Weaver
r.weaver@tulane.edu
www.tulanegreenwave.com

UAB:
Jeremy Hoffman
jmhoff1@yahoo.com
www.uabsports.com

USF:
Jodi Smith
jsmith@admin.usf.edu
www.gousfbulls.com