After defeating No. 12 East Carolina, No. 4 Houston, No. 1 Cincinnati and No. 2 Louisville, the DePaul Blue Demons were crowned the 2001 Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament Champions and earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament; Regular season champion Cincinnati and Louisville continue their regular season with the C-USA/Atlantic 10 Challenge this week, while Houston will take on SMU on Wednesday; Check out all these stories in this week's C-USA Volleyball Notebook.

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

Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Colorado (39), Arkansas (18), Xavier (16), Missouri (16), North Carolina (13), Oregon State (9), Utah State (8), San Jose State (8), San Diego (6), Minnesota (5), Washington State (5).

DEPAUL CLAIMS 2001 C-USA TOURNAMENT
DePaul defeated Louisville, 3-2 (30-25, 30-27, 26-30, 25-30, 15-12) in the 2001 Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Championship game at Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston. The Blue Demons, who posted wins over No. 12 East Carolina (3-0), No. 4 Houston (3-1) and No. 1 Cincinnati (3-1) in the tournament to advance to the finals, claimed their first C-USA Tournament title in school history. The win also marked the first time ever in league history that a No. 5 seed won the championship.

KATIE ENGEL led the Blue Demon's offense attack with 26 kills, a .344 hitting percentage and 17 kills, while KARA JAKSUZ nabbed 74 assists. STEPHANIE BISHOP also tallied 19 kills and a match-high 19 digs, while MELISSA NORDINE added 10 kills.

Louisville's ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA compiled a match-high 28 kills and LESLEY DRURY added 11 kills. STACEY MERCER set a tournament record with 10 block assists, while JING DING tallied 63 assists and 17 digs.

ALL-TOURNAMENT AWARDS
At the 2001 C-USA Championships, KARA JAKUSZ was named Tournament MVP, while Cincinnati's BONITA WISE, Marquette's MEGHAN DEVINE, DePaul's STEPHANIE BISHOP and Louisville's SONJA PERCAN and ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA were named the the All-Tournament Team.

FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
TRISH LADUSAW, OH, Cincinnati
BONITA WISE, MB, Cincinnati
BECKY STAHL, OH, Cincinnati
STEPHANIE BISHOP, OH, DePaul
GABRIELA CARBONE, DS, Houston
JENNIFER TANNEBURGER, MH, Houston
JENNIFER WITTENBURG, RH, Houston
SONJA PERCAN, OH, Louisville
MEGHAN DEVINE, MB, Marquette
COLLEEN HUNTER, MH, Saint Louis
MICHELLE COLLIER, OH, South Florida
ALESSANDRA DOMINGOS, S, South Florida

SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
COURTNEY BURG, OH, Charlotte
RACHEL BERAN, DS, Cincinnati
LAURA LAUDER, S, Cincinnati
CHRISTA DIRR, MB, DePaul
KARA JAKUSZ, S, DePaul
LARA MARKS, MB, DePaul
JING DING, S, Louisville
LESLEY DRURY, OH, Louisville
VESNA GRBAVAC, OH, Marquette
AMIE HAMILTON, S, Memphis
BRITNEY HURST, OH, Tulane
ANASTASIA KENON, OH, Tulane

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
JULIE DUPONT, OH, Cincinnati
BECKY STAHL, OH, Cincinnati
JENNIFER AMOBI, OH, Marquette
RACHEL JOBES, MH, South Florida
SHAMEKA MITCHELL, MH, South Florida
ANASTASIA KENON, OH, Tulane

Player of the Year:
JENNIFER WITTENBURG, Houston

Coach of the Year:
REED SUNAHARA, Cincinnati

Setter of the Year:
ALESSENDRA DOMINGOS, South Florida

Defensive Player of the Year:
TRISH LADUSAW, Cincinnati

Freshman of the Year:
BECKY STAHL, Cincinnati

LEADING THE CONFERENCE
Houston's JENNIFER WITTENBURG remains first in the conference rankings in kills, averaging 6.23 kills per game. She is also ranked third in digs with 3.60 per game.

Memphis' AMIE HAMILTON dominates the conference stats with 97 services aces on the season.

East Carolina's ROBYN DREWES is ranked first among C-USA players in blocks, averaging 1.34.

MIDWEST REGIONAL RANKINGS
Here is a look at the Nov. 13 Midwest Volleyball Regional Rankings. C-USA has six schools ranked in the region.

1. Cincinnati
2. Louisville
3. South Florida
4. Loyola
5. Wright State
6. Houston
7. DePaul
8. Marquette
9. UW Wisconsin
10. Tennessee-Martin

CAREER C-USA RECORDS
In 2001, several C-USA career records have been broken throughout the season.

- DePaul's STEPHANIE BISHOP became C-USA's all-time leader in kills and digs this season. Bishop set the conference career record in kills with a total of 2,043 and breaking former Bearcat Becky Tenkman's mark of 1,843 (1995-98). Bishop also claimed the digs record with a total of 1,836 and breaking the old mark of 1,602 by Houston's Kristin Guidish.

- DePaul's senior setter KARA JAKUSZ set the C-USA career assist record after posting 1,643 this season. She now has compiled 6,411 assists in her career and surpassed the old mark of 5,180 that was held by Marquette's Liz Egasti
(1997-2000).

- Amie Hamilton of Memphis compiled 97 service aces to move into first on the league's all-time list with 234 aces. Ozlem Ozkan of Charlotte (1997-2000) held the old record of 195 service aces.

THE 30-KILL CLUB
Conference USA leads the nation with six players who have posted 30-plus kills this season. Houston's JENNIFER WITTENBURG leads the conference with an unprecedented six 30-plus kill games.

37- J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. DePaul, Nov. 9
37 - J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. Marquette, Nov. 10
36 - Michelle Collier, USF vs. Louisville, Oct. 7
33 - Colleen Hunter, SLU vs.Austin Peay, Aug. 31
33 - J. Wittenburg, HOU vs. DePaul, Nov. 16
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

C-USA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE: Charlotte fell in the first round of the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament to Saint Louis, 3-0. KATIE HALL led the 49ers with 11 kills, while KATHLEEN RAMOS added 12 digs. The 49ers ended the 2001 season with a 15-15 overall mark and 5-11 conference record. COURTNEY BURG was named second-team all-league.

CINCINNATI: Regular season champion Cincinnati advanced to the semifinals after defeating Memphis, 3-0, but fell to DePaul, 3-1 at the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament. BONITA WISE was named to the All-Tournament team after leading the Bearcats with a .322 hitting percentage and compiling 10 blocks. Cincinnati also claimed several all-conference honors, including Coach of the Year REED SUNAHARA, Defensive Player of the Year TRISH LADUSAW and Freshman of the Year BECKY STAHL.

DE PAUL: DePaul claimed its first Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament Championship after downing Louisville, 3-2. KARA JAKUSZ nabbed 74 assists and nine digs against the Cardinals to be named the Tournament MVP. KATIE ENGEL also led the team with 26 kills for a .344 hitting percentage. The Blue Demons became the first No. 5 seed to win the tournament, after defeating No. 12 East Carolina (3-0), No. 4 Houston (3-0), No. 1 Cincinnati (3-1) and No. 2 Louisville (3-2). STEPHANIE BISHOP was also named to the All-Tournament team.

EAST CAROLINA: The Pirates fell in the first round of the Healthy Choice C-USA Tournament to eventual winner DePaul in the first round. AMANDA RUDOLPH notched 13 kills to lead the Pirates, while ROBYN DREWES added seven kills and six blocks. East Carolina finished the season with an 8-21 overall mark and 3-13 conference record.

HOUSTON: C-USA Player of the Year JENNIFER WITTENBURG blasted 33 kills but Houston was still unable to overcome DePaul in the first round. The Cougars fell, 3-0 to the Blue Demons. Wittenburg also tallied a match-high 22 digs, while JENNY TANNEBERGER notched 14 kills. Wittenburg, Tanneberger and GABI CARBONI were named to the first-team All-Conference team.

LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals suffered a 3-2 loss to DePaul in the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Championship game. ANASTASIA ZAITSEVA blasted a match-high 28 kills for a .257 hitting percentage. STACEY MERCER also broke the C-USA Tournament record for blocks with 13. Zaitseva and SONJA PERCAN were named to the All-Tournament Team.

MARQUETTE: Marquette upset South Florida, 3-1 before being eliminated in the semifinals by Louisville, 3-0. The Golden Eagles were led by MEGHAN DEVINE, who posted 24 kills for a .354 hitting percentage during the tournament. For her effort, Devine earned All-Tournament accolades, while also being named to the first-team all-league team.

MEMPHIS: The Tigers fell to No. 1 Cincinnati, 3-0 in the semifinal round of the C-USA Volleyball Tournament. ADRIANNE EDMONDS led Memphis for the tournament, compiling 25 kills and 17 digs. GINGER GARRETT followed with 21 kills, while AMIE HAMILTON tallied 78 assists, 3 service aces and six blocks in the tournament. Hamilton claimed second-team all-league honors

SAINT LOUIS: The Billikens downed Charlotte in the first round (3-0), before falling to Louisville, 3-0, at the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament. For the tournament, COLLEEN HUNTER tallied 47 kills, 19 digs and five blocks to lead Saint Louis. Hunter earned first-team All-C-USA honors.

SOUTH FLORIDA: South Florida was eliminated in the first round by Marquette, 3-1. MICHELLE COLLIER blasted a match-high 29 kills and 15 digs, while RACHEL JOBES tallied a team-high 11 blocks. ALESSANDRA DOMINGOS, who compiled 41 assists against Marquette, was named the C-USA Setter of the Year. Collier was also named to the first-team All-Conference team.

SOUTHERN MISS: Southern Miss ended with a loss to Marquette, 3-1 in the first round of the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament. ANDREA BUSH led the Golden Eagles with 24 kills and 14 digs.

TCU: TCU dropped matches against Marquette, 3-0 and DePaul, 3-1 at the end of regular season play. MARCI KING led the Horned Frogs firing 16 kills and 11 digs against the Blue Demons to post her 52nd career double-double performance. The Horned Frogs finish their season with a 7-21 overall mark and 3-13 conference record.

TULANE: Tulane's season ended with a first round loss to Memphis, 3-0 at the Healthy Choice C-USA Volleyball Tournament. The Green Wave ends with a 16-14 overall mark and 7-9 conference record.

UAB: UAB dropped Tulane, 3-1, but fell 3-0 to Southern Miss in the last weekend of regular season play. In the win over the Green Wave, SHELLY GREENE notched 19 kills, six digs and a .333 hitting percentage. UAB ended the 2001 season with a 12-17 overall mark and 3-13 league record. BRITNEY HURST and ANASTASIA KENON were named to the second-team All-C-USA team, while RACHEL JOBES earned All-Freshman honors.