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University of Houston Athletics
Volleyball Starts November on Road at Southern Mississippi
11/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 1, 2001
HOUSTON, Texas - After a successful October pushed the University of Houston volleyball team back into the hunt for the Conference USA championship, the Cougars look to continue that momentum when they meet Southern Mississippi in a 7 p.m. match Friday.
It will be a busy weekend for the Cougars, who wrap up their 2001 regular season road schedule when they face Tulane for the second time this season in a 7 p.m. match Saturday in New Orleans, La.
The Cougars, who recently saw their season-best six-match winning streak come to an end Sunday at league rival South Florida, jumped from seventh place at the beginning of October to their current third-place standing. After losing the first match of October to a nationally-ranked Hawaii team, the Cougars reeled off six straight wins to make their jump.
Senior Jennifer Wittenburg continues to lead the Cougars both offensively and defensively. With team-highs of 427 kills and 258 digs this season, the Houston native already ranks among the school's all-time career leaders in that category and needs only six more kills to move into the top five.
In addition, Wittenburg is the only player to rank among the C-USA top five leaders in both kills and digs.
Senior Gabi Carbone is a close second to Wittenburg in the digs category, tallying 242 digs.
The Cougars (11-9, 8-3 C-USA) are a perfect 10-0 all-time against Southern Miss and have lost only three of 33 total games in the series, which dates back to the 1992 season.
A year ago, UH swept the regular season series 2-0, including a 3-0 win in Hattiesburg, Miss., in which the Cougars gave up a combined15 points through three games.
USM (7-16, 2-10 C-USA) enters Friday's match on the heels of a 3-2 loss to New Orleans, which extended its losing streak to nine matches. The Golden Eagles have not won since a 3-0 victory over East Carolina on Sept. 30.
Kelly Tribble leads USM with 328 kills, while Brynn Olsson is tops on the squad with 230 digs.
