Nov. 14, 2004

FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Horned Frogs earned a first-round bye with their fourth seed at the Chevron Texaco Conference USA Tournament. The tourney, to be played in Louisville at the Cardinal Arena Friday, Nov. 18 through Sunday, Nov. 21, features the top 12 teams of the league. The host team, Louisville, earned a number one seed with its flawless regular season record. TCU finished the regular season tied for second with Marquette and Cincinnati, each team with a 10-3 C-USA mark.

TCU await the outcome of the match between #12 DePaul and #5 Memphis, which will be on Friday at 2 p.m. CDT. The Frogs face the winner at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers swept the Blue Demons on Oct. 30 in their regular season match. Just this weekend, TCU defeated Memphis (9-4, 24-9) in five games to make it the third consecutive win over the Tigers and to push Memphis out of the top-four-seed contention. Three weeks ago, the Frogs lost a gut-wrencher to DePaul (5-8, 12-18). The five-game loss could have secured solo ownership of regular season runner-up status for TCU had the Frogs pulled it off. Either match-up shapes up to be interesting for TCU fans.

Should TCU win, the Frogs will play in the semifinals against one of three teams: Louisville (1), East Carolina (9), or Houston (8).

The semifinal matches are slated for Sunday at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., with the championship match set for Monday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. (CDT). The match will be televised by affiliates of the C-USA Television Network. Don Russell will announce the play-by-play, while Audrey Flaugh provides the commentary. Conference USA's official website, www.ConferenceUSA.com, will provide updates, box scores, recaps and photos.

Below is a complete schedule of the 2004 ChevronTexaco C-USA Volleyball Tournament, along with a tournament bracket.

2004 CHEVRONTEXACO C-USA VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, November 19:
Match 1 - (9) East Carolina vs. (8) Houston 12 p.m.
Match 2 - (12) DePaul vs. (5) Memphis 2 p.m.
Match 3 - (10) USF vs. (7) Saint Louis 5 p.m.
Match 4 - (11) Charlotte vs. (6) Tulane 7 p.m.
Saturday, November 20:
Match 5 - (1) Louisville vs. Winner of East Carolina/Houston 12 p.m.
Match 6 - (4) TCU vs. Winner of DePaul/Memphis 2 p.m.
Match 7 - (2) Cincinnati vs. Winner of USF/Saint Louis 5 p.m.
Match 8 - (3) Marquette vs. Winner of Charlotte/Tulane 7 p.m.
Sunday, November 21 (Semifinals):
Match 9 - Winner of Match 5 vs. Winner of Match 6 4 p.m.
Match 10 - Winner of Match 7 vs. Winner of Match 8 6 p.m.
Monday, November 22 (Championship):
Match 11 - Championship Match 7 p.m.

All times are Central. All matches will be played in Cardinal Arena, Louisville, Ky. www.gofrogs.com