Nov. 11, 2007

IRVING, Texas - With a pair of 3-0 road victories this weekend, Marshall claims its second Conference USA regular season title outright in three years and is awarded the No. 1 seed in the upcoming C-USA Volleyball Championship hosted by the Herd in Huntington, W.Va.

Marshall's 15-1 league record is identical to when the program won the 2005 regular season and tournament titles. The Herd also sports an overall record of 22-8 and went 7-1 at home during league play.

The C-USA Volleyball Championship begins on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Cam Henderson Center on the campus of Marshall University and concludes Sunday, Nov. 18 with the title match on CSTV at 6 p.m.

Thursday's action will begin at noon with No. 7 seed Rice (12-16, 7-9) taking on No. 10 seed UTEP (9-19, 3-13), followed by No. 6 seed Houston (13-14, 8-8) facing No. 11 seed Southern Miss (12-20, 3-13) at 2 p.m. The night session features No. 8 seed East Carolina (15-16, 6-10) against No. 9 seed SMU (16-14, 6-10) at 5 p.m., followed by the final match of the day as No. 5 seed Memphis (22-11, 11-5) takes on No. 12 seed UCF (9-22, 0-16) at 7 p.m.

Marshall, who's on a nine-match winning streak and winners of 16 of the last 17 matches, will face either East Carolina or SMU in second round action on Friday at 5 p.m. Tulane (26-5, 14-2), UAB (22-8, 12-4) and Tulsa (24-8, 11-5), 2006 C-USA regular season champion, round out the top four seeds and will also receive first round byes.

Tulane's, also winners of nine-straight, first action will be against the winner of the Rice/UTEP match at 12 p.m. on Friday, followed by the defending 2006 tournament champion, UAB Blazers at 2 p.m. The Blazers will face the winner of the Houston/Southern Miss match. No. 4 Tulsa wraps up the quarterfinals with a 7 p.m. match against either Memphis/UCF.

Saturday's semifinals begin at 4 p.m., while the second match is slated for 6 p.m. Sunday's championship begins at 6 p.m. and will be aired LIVE on CSTV. All times are Eastern.

FIRST ROUND
Thursday, Nov. 15
(10) UTEP vs. (7) Rice, 12 p.m.
(11) Southern Miss vs. (6) Houston, 2 p.m.
(9) SMU vs. (8) East Carolina, 5 p.m.
(12) UCF vs. (5) Memphis, 7 p.m.

QUARTERFINAL
Friday, Nov. 16
winner of Match 1 vs. (2) Tulane, 12 p.m.
winner of Match 2 vs. (3) UAB, 2 p.m.
winner of Match 3 vs. (1) Marshall, 5 p.m.
winner of Match 4 vs. (4) Tulsa, 7 p.m.

SEMIFINALS
Saturday, Nov. 17
winner of Match 5 vs. winner Match 6, 4 p.m.
winner of Match 7 vs. winner Match 8, 6 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, Nov. 18
winner of Match 9 vs. winner Match 10, 6 p.m.

TV COVERAGE
Sunday's championship match will be nationally televised live by CSTV at 6 p.m. ET.

RADIO COVERAGE
For the first time in C-USA history, all 11 matches will be broadcasted. WMUL will provide complete radio coverage at 88.1 FM in Huntington, W.Va., and on-line at http://www.marshall.edu/wmul/live.asx.

LIVE ONLINE STREAMING
Conference USA and CSTV Networks, Inc. announced that 10 of the 11 C-USA Volleyball Championship matches will be available across the nation as part of a special online pay-per-view event. Thursday's four first round matchups as well as Friday's four quarterfinals will be broadcast via live online video streaming starting at Noon each day. In addition, volleyball fans can have access to the semifinals on Nov. 17, with match times of 4 and 6 p.m. ET. Per-Match: $6.95 ... Championship Match: $7.95

GAME TRACKER
C-USA Volleyball fans can also watch their favorite team FREE via GameTracker located on C-USA Volleyball Championship page. For the most up-to-date C-USA Volleyball Championship Information please visit the league's official website at ConferenceUSA.com.