Cincinnati remains the leader in the conference standings with a 10-1 mark, while extending its win streak to 11 matches; Conference USA leads the nation with six players who have posted 30-plus kills this season; Read all about it in this week's C-USA volleyball notes.


CO-PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
STEPHANIE BISHOP, OH, DePaul/
COLLEEN HUNTER, MH, Saint Louis

STEPHANIE BISHOP of DePaul and Saint Louis' COLLEEN HUNTER share Conference USA Player of the Week honors for the period ending Oct. 21. Bishop led the Blue Demons with wins over Illinois State, Southern Miss and Tulane, while also setting C-USA career records in digs with 1,643 and kills with 1,856. She notched three consecutive double-double performances, totaling 13 double-digit games this season, while tallying 63 kills, a .318 hitting percentage and 54 digs for the week.

Hunter earned her second consecutive Player of the Week honor after recording a triple-double performance against Cincinnati with 25 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks. She set career-highs in assists (seven) and blocks (10) against Cincinnati. With her 31 kills against the Cardinals, Hunter also became only the third player in the country this season with three 30-plus kill matches. Houston's Jennifer Wittenburg and Hawaii's Kim Willoughby have also recorded three 30-plus kill performances this season.

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

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Kansas State (86), North Carolina (43), Missouri (31), San Diego (22), Michigan (17), Arkansas (14), San Jose State (14), Cincinnati (13), Duke (13), Texas (7), Nevada (7), Illinois (3).

BEARCAT WIN STREAK
With wins over Saint Louis, 3-2 and Memphis,
3-0, Cincinnati remains the leader in the conference standings with a 10-1 mark, while extending its win streak to 11 matches. It marks the longest win streak by a C-USA team this season as Memphis held the previous mark of 10 matches (Aug. 31-Sept. 21).

BISHOP TOPS C-USA RECORD
DePaul's STEPHANIE BISHOP became C-USA's all-time leader in digs with a total of 1,643, surpassing the old mark of 1,602 held by Houston's Kristin Guidish. Now Bishop has added another C-USA record to her impressive career stats. Bishop set the conference career record for kills with a total of 1,856 and breaking Cincinnati's Becky Tenkman's total of 1,843.

LEADING THE CONFERENCE
As a team, DePaul continues to lead the conference in kills (16.64), assists (15.15) and digs (17.63) per game.

Tulane is ranked first in blocks with 2.53 per game and has held its opponent to a conference-best .169 hitting percentage this season.

MIDWEST REGIONAL RANKINGS
Here is a look at the Oct. 17 Midwest Volleyball Regional Rankings. C-USA has five schools ranked in the region.

1. Cincinnati
2. Louisville
3. Loyola-Chicago
4. DePaul
5. South Florida
UW-Milwaukee
7. Wright State
8. Eastern Illinois
9. Houston
10. Morehead State

SEASON SUPERLATIVES
Here are several of the top single-match performances in Conference USA this season.

HITTING PERCENTAGE
.765 (12-1-7) by Rachel Jobes (USF) vs. CIN, 10/5

KILLS
36 by Michelle Collier (USF) vs. Loyola, 9/8

ASSISTS
74 by Gemma Greer (MAR) vs. LOU, 10/12

ATTEMPTS
82 by Michelle Collier (USF) at Florida State, 9/18

ACES
9 by Michelle Collier (USF) at New Orleans, 9/23

BLOCKS
12 by Robyn Drewes (ECU) vs. UMBC, 8/8

DIGS
29 by Shelly Greene (UAB) at Miami, 8/8

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of the top individual performers in C-USA from Oct. 15-21:

LAURA LAUDER, CIN: Tied her career-high with five kills against Saint Louis, while also tying her season-high in assists with 66.

MEGHAN DEVINE, MAR: Cracked the 1,000 career-kill mark and enters a Tuesday match-up against Loyola with 1,001 career attacks.

JENNIFER WITTENBURG, HOU: Tallied 30 kills against East Carolina, marking the seventh time in her career she has posted at least 30 kills in a match.

MICHELLE COLLIER, USF: Recorded 81 kills and a .309 hitting percentage for the week. She is now only 72 kills away from hitting 2,000 kills in her career.

KELLY TRIBBLE, USM: Posted double-double performances against DePaul (17 kills, 18 digs) and Marquette (17 kills, 10 digs)

THE 30-KILL CLUB
Conference USA leads the nation with six players who have posted 30-plus kills this season.

36 - Michelle Collier, USF vs. Louisville, Oct. 7
33 - Colleen Hunter, SLU vs.Austin Peay, Aug. 31
32 - Sonja Percan, LOU vs. South Florida, Oct. 7
31 - Colleen Hunter, SLU vs. Louisville, Oct. 20
31 - Kathleen Ramos, CHA vs. Auburn, Sept. 9
31- J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. Texas A&M, Sept. 18
31- J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. Memphis, Sept. 23
30- J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. East Carolina, Oct. 19
30 - Julie Dupont, CIN vs. Marquette, Oct. 13
30 - Colleen Hunter, SLU vs. Tulane, Oct. 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.

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. Thursday, Nov. 15 and Friday, Nov. 16 matches will be held at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The semifinal rounds on Nov. 17 will begin at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The Nov. 18 championship will be televised by the Conference USA Television Network. Please check your local listings.

C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: Charlotte defeated TCU, 3-1, but fell to Houston, 3-0 last weekend. COURTNEY BURG led the 49ers in both games, tallying 14 kills and nine digs against TCU and posting a double-double performance (12 kills, 13 digs) against Houston. KATHLEEN RAMOS also notched a match-high 15 kills and 10 digs against the Horned Frogs.

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati extended its win streak to 11 matches after defeating Saint Louis, 3-2 and Memphis, 3-0. Currently the streak marks the sixth longest in school history and the Bearcats have also won 39 of their last 45 matches against C-USA opponents. BECKY STAHL set career-highs in kills (26) and digs (26) against Saint Louis, while also averaging 5.00 kills and 4.38 digs per game.

DE PAUL: DePaul dropped Southern Miss, 3-2 and Tulane, 3-1 last weekend. STEPHANIE BISHOP led the Blue Demons for the week, posting 63 kills and 54 digs. She also broke C-USA's all-time record in kills (1,856), surpassing the old mark of 1,843 set by Cincinnati's Becky Tenkman (1995-98). LANA MARKS also posted a strong performance, tallying 16 kills and 12 blocks against the Golden Eagles.

EAST CAROLINA: East Carolina fell to Houston, 3-1, but came back to defeat TCU, 3-2. AMANDA RUDOLPH compiled a match-high 23 kills and 23 digs to lead the Pirates. She now has posted nine double-double performances for the season. SARAH VICK also added 10 kills and nine digs, while CHRISSY McPHEETERS chipped in four blocks.

HOUSTON: The Cougars went 2-0 for the weekend, dropping East Carolina, 3-1 and, Charlotte, 3-0. JENNY TANNEBERGER set a new Cougar single-match high in attack percentage against East Carolina after posting a .556 mark (16 kills, one error and 27 chances). GABI CARBONE also posted a strong performance against the Pirates, tallying a career-high five service aces, while freshman LOURE DEWS blasted a career-best .500 attack percentage with five kills and only one error in eight chances against the 49ers.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals defeated Memphis, 3-1, but suffered a 3-2 loss against Saint Louis. SONJA PERCAN notched 23 kills and 11 digs, while ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA added 17 kills for a .424 attack percentage against Memphis. Against Saint Louis, Percan and Zaitseva also added 20 kills each, while STACY MERCER led the Cardinals with a .276 hitting percentage and 14 digs.

MARQUETTE: Marquette claimed a 3-1 win over Southern Miss, but fell to Tulane, 3-1. MEGHAN DEVINE led the Golden Eagles for the weekend, posting a team-high .302 hitting percentage and recording a season-high 20 kills against Tulane. She also compiled 15 kills and 12 digs against Southern Miss for her fifth straight double-double performance. Senior VESNA GRBAVAC notched 23 kills against Southern Miss, marking her sixth match of 20-plus kills this season. ERIN FREE also recorded a season-high tying 17 digs in the two matches.

MEMPHIS: Memphis fell to Louisville, 3-1 and Cincinnati, 3-0 last weekend. ADRIANNE EDMONDS posted a team-high .370 attack percentage off 19 kills and only two errors in 46 chances. AMIE HAMILTON continued to add to her C-USA career record in aces with two against Louisville. She now has 205 in her four-year career. EMILY EICHMANN also recorded 13 kills and five digs against Louisville.

SAINT LOUIS: The Billikens fell to Cincinnati, 3-2, but bounced back to defeat Louisville, 3-2 last weekend. COLLEEN HUNTER led the Billikens recording a triple-double against the Bearcats with 25 kills, 12 digs and 10 blocks. She also tallied 31 kills and 11 digs against Louisville. EMBER KNOBELOCH contributed defensively, posting 10 block assists in the loss to Cincinnati. As a team, Saint Louis broke the school record with 40 block assists, surpassing the previous mark of 38 set on Oct. 9, 1998 against the Bearcats.

SOUTH FLORIDA: South Florida swept UAB, before falling to non-conference foe Alabama, 3-1 last weekend. MICHELLE COLLIER continued her strong play, posting a match-high 24 kills and 12 digs against Alabama. Collier also chipped in a team-high 13 kills and a .346 hitting percentage against UAB. BONNYE GLOVER added 12 kills and a .706 hitting percentage, while JOLENE PATTON recorded seven kills against Alabama.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss fell to Louisville, 3-1 and Marquette, 3-1. KELLY TRIBBLE led the Golden Eagles for the week, notching 38 kills, a .301 hitting percentage and 28 digs. Tribble posted her third 20-plus kill performance this season against DePaul when she compiled a team-high 21 kills. ANDREA BUSH also posted a double-double against Marquette with 13 kills and 11 digs.

TCU: TCU dropped both matches against Charlotte (3-1) and East Carolina (3-2). MARCI KING recorded 19 kills, 12 digs. six block assists and a .317 hitting percentage, while JENNIFER CUCA added 11 kills and 11 digs against East Carolina.

TULANE: Tulane claimed a 3-1 decision over Marquette, but suffered a 3-1 loss to DePaul last weekend. BRITNEY HURST led the Green Wave with 19 kills, while chipping in 16 digs, two aces and a block assist against the Golden Eagles. ANASTASIA KENON had 18 kills and 13 digs, while KARLYN DALY led all players with a match-high 18 digs.

UAB: UAB fell to South Florida, 3-0. last weekend. Junior ALLISON MAGNER led UAB with nine kills, six digs and eight blocks. Sophomore MARTINA SHIELDS had nine kills and eight digs, while JESSICA LIPTAK posted 30 assists.