Cincinnati continues to dominate C-USA play as the Bearcats lead the conference with a 13-1 league mark; DePaul has broken conference single-season records in kills, assists and digs this season; Jennifer Amobi is honored as Player of the Week after leading the Golden Eagles to wins over Memphis and Saint Louis; Read all about it in this week's C-USA volleyball notes.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

JENNIFER AMOBI, MB, Marquette

Freshman JENNIFER AMOBI of Marquette is the Conference USA Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 28. Amobi led the Golden Eagles to wins over Loyola, 3-0, Memphis, 3-0, and Saint Louis, 3-1, last week. Against the Billikens, she notched 17 kills and a season-best .469 hitting percentage, and helped the Golden Eagles snap a seven-game losing streak to Saint Louis. Amobi's attack percentage also tied her for the third-best effort in that category by a Marquette player this year. For the week, she recorded 40 kills and an attack percentage of .386.

NATIONAL POLLS
Here is a look at the Oct. 29 AVCA/USA Today Poll.
1. Long Beach State
2. Nebraska
3. Stanford
4. Arizona
5. USC
6. Colorado State
7. Wisconsin
8. UCLA
9. Florida
10. Ohio State
11. Penn State
12. Hawaii
13. Pepperdine
14. Texas A&M
15. Utah
16. BYU
17. Pacific
18. Northern Iowa
19. South Florida
20. Santa Clara
21. UC Santa Barbara
22. Colorado
23. Notre Dame
24. Minnesota
25. Illinois

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Kansas State (72), Missouri (40), Cincinnati (37), Utah State (36), San Jose State (31), North Carolina (24), Arkansas (19), San Diego (15), Michigan, North Carolina (43), Arkansas (19), San Diego (15), Michigan (12), Washington State (10), Xavier (6).

RECORD BREAKING WAYS
DePaul has set new Conference USA single-season records in kills, digs and assists this season. The Blue Demons have compiled 1,521 kills this season, surpassing the old season-high mark of 1,072 set by Louisville in 2000. They also recorded 1,616 digs this year, breaking their old mark of 1,379 set in 1999 and the Blue Demons' 1,394 assists has surpassed Louisville's record of 967 set last season.

LEADING THE CONFERENCE
As a team, DePaul continues to lead the conference in kills (16.90), assists (15.49) and digs (17.96) per game.

Louisville is ranked first in blocks with 2.57 per game and has held its opponents to a conference-best .170 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
.812 (13-0-6) by Lesley Drury (LOU) vs. USM, 10/26

KILLS
36 by Michelle Collier (USF) vs. LOU, 10/7

ASSISTS
75 by Kara Jakusz (DPU) vs. MEM, 10/27

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
12 by Laura Marks (DPU) vs. USM, 10/19

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

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

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of the top individual performers in C-USA from Oct. 22-28:

BONITA WISE, CIN: Became the seventh Bearcat to top 1,000 career kills after posting 16 kills against Southern Miss and 14 against Tulane.

CHRISTA DIRR, DPU: Led the Blue Demons with 53 kills, and a .426 hitting percentage for the week.

JANE ANNE KARASEK, HOU: Posted the seventh double-double of her Houston career with 13 kills and 11 digs at UAB.

COLLEEN HUNTER, SLU: Moved into third place on Saint Louis' all-time career kills list with 1,456.

MICHELLE COLLIER, USF: Recorded 53 kills and 29 digs for the week. She is now only 19 kills away from hitting 2,000 kills in her career.

CRYSTAL ZANE, USM: Moved into third on the USM all-time assists list with 3,739.

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


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 posted its third win in four matches, defeating East Carolina, 3-1 on Oct. 27. KATHLEEN RAMOS posted 22 kills and 16 digs against the Pirates for her 11th double-double performance of the season. COURTNEY BURG added 19 kills and 19 digs, while ESRA AKGUN reached double digits as well with 16 kills. The 49ers will try to even their record at 12-12 on Tuesday, when they host Davidson.

CINCINNATI: Cincinnati swept Tulane and Southern Miss last weekend. The Bearcats ran their win streak to 13 matches, tying the second-longest in school history. BONITA WISE led the team with 30 kills for the week to become the seventh Bearcat to top the 1,000 career kills mark. Freshman RACHEL TORBLAA hit .543 and averaged 2.17 blocks per game. The team hit .348 over the two matches and averaged 20 kills per game. Cincinnati takes on Wright State on Tuesday.

DE PAUL: DePaul fell to Saint Louis, 3-1, but bounced back to sweep Memphis last weekend. STEPHANIE BISHOP recorded a match-high 23 kills and 20 digs against the Tigers, while KATIE ENGEL posted 19 kills, a .317 hitting percentage and 20 digs. DePaul returns to conference action on Wednesday, when the Blue Demons host Marquette.

East Carolina: East Carolina lost to Charlotte, 3-1 on Oct. 27. Senior AMANDA RUDOLPH recorded her 12th double-double performance of the season with 15 kills and 19 digs. LISA DONOVAN and freshman JESSICA VICK directed the Pirate offense, tallying 25 and 21 assists, respectively. East Carolina will compete on the road against Campbell on Tuesday.

HOUSTON: The Cougars went 1-1 for the weekend, defeating UAB, 3-0, but falling to South Florida, 3-0. JENNIFER WITTENBURG tallied a match-high 19 kills and seven digs and JANE ANNE KARASEK posted 13 kills for a .324 hitting percentage against the Blazers.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals swept both Southern Miss and Tulane last weekend. As a team, Louisville hit .324 with a total of 49 kills against the Golden Eagles. SONJA PERCAN led the Cardinals for the weekend, recording 27 kills and 13 digs, while LESLEY DRURY added 21 kill and 20 digs.

MARQUETTE: The Golden Eagles defeated Memphis, 3-0 and Saint Louis, 3-1. As a team, Marquette hit .357 against the Tigers, tying the team-high in that category. VESNA GRBAVAC led the Marquette attack with a team-high 14 kills, while recording a season-high .438 attack percentage. Freshman JENNIFER AMOBI registered 17 kills and a .469 hitting percentage against Saint Louis. GEMMA GREER tallied 97 assists for the week and became just the fourth different Marquette player to post 1,000 or more assists on the season. Marquette travels to Chicago on Wednesday to take on DePaul.

MEMPHIS: Memphis fell to DePaul, 3-1 and Marquette, 3-0 last weekend. Against the Golden Eagles, ADRIANNE EDMONDS fired a match-high 17 kills and posted a .324 attack percentage. GINGER GARRETT also added 12 kills and seven digs. Garrett would also post a team-high 18 kills and 14 digs against DePaul.

SAINT LOUIS: The Billikens defeated DePaul, 3-1, but suffered a 3-1 loss against Marquette. COLLEEN HUNTER averaged 26.7 kills and 15.7 digs in three matches. She posted a career-high 21 digs against DePaul and just missed a triple-double with nine blocks. Hunter has now moved into third place on the all-time Saint Louis kills list with 1,456. The Billikens will compete against South Florida on Tuesday.

SOUTH FLORIDA: MICHELLE COLLIER recorded 53 kills and 29 digs for the week to lead the Bulls in wins over TCU and Houston. Collier is now only 19 kills away from reaching 2,000 for her career. JOLENE PATTON also posted a strong performance, tallying 16 kills, a .297 hitting percentage and nine digs against the Horned Frogs. South Florida hosts Saint Louis on Tuesday.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss fell to Louisville, 3-0 and Cincinnati, 3-0. ANDREA BUSH recorded a double-double against the Bearcats with 16 kills and 12 digs. BRIDGET FILES also had 22 kills over the weekend with 12 digs, two aces and four blocks. Southern Miss will host New Orleans on Tuesday.

TCU: TCU dropped both matches against TCU (3-0) and UAB (3-1) last week. COURTNEY BEACH and JENNIFER CUCA both recorded 10 kills each against UAB, while MARCI KING added eight kills and a team-high 11 digs. The Horned Frogs take on Texas-Arlington on Tuesday.

TULANE: Tulane fell to Cincinnati, 3-0 and Louisville, 3-0. BRITNEY HURST led the Green Wave posting a match-high 17 kills against Louisville, while ANASTASIA KENON chipped in 11 kills and a match-high 18 digs. The Green Wave will next compete against Nicholls State in non-conference action.

UAB: UAB suffered a 3-0 loss against Houston, but dropped TCU, 3-1 last weekend. MARTINA SHIELDS led the Blazers for the week, compiling 21 kills and 24 digs. SHELLY GREENE also added a season-high 18 kills and six digs against TCU. The Blazers battle Mississippi State at home on Tuesday.