University of Houston Athletics
C-USA Tournament Begins Friday
11/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2004
HOUSTON - After posting an 8-20 regular season mark, and going 5-8 in Conference USA, the Houston volleyball team is set to participate in the 10th annual C-USA Tournament in Louisville, Ky.
The Cougars enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed, the same seed they received last year and went on to defeat the No. 9 seeded USF Bulls, and then upset No. 1 seeded Cincinnati before bowing out in the semifinals to Memphis.
This season, Houston will face off with the No. 9 seeded ECU Pirates in the first match of the tournament, scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. (EST) start on Friday afternoon. It will mark the first time the two teams have meet in the conference playoffs, and it comes as only the fifth meeting ever between the two squads.
Earlier this season on Oct. 8, the Cougars claimed their fourth straight victory over the Pirates with a 3-0 win in Greenville to push their all-time record against ECU to 4-0.
In that match, senior Loure Dews, junior Kariny Ritter and sophomore Kelly McAnelly each posted double-digit kill performances with 11, 16 and 14, respectively. Houston also recorded its best outing with a .394 hitting performance in the match, grabbing 52 kills on 99 attempts with only 13 errors to ECU's 43 kills, 112 attempts and 22 errors leading to a .188 attack percentage on the evening.
Since that time, Loure Dews has moved into the No. 4 spot on the all-time block assists list, and junior libero Jaci Gonzalez is currently adding on to her school and C-USA record for most digs in a single season at 576, and now holds the top spot for most digs in a career with 1,638 and counting.
This weekend's tournament appearance marks the ninth straight season that Houston has qualified for the league battle. For the Pirates, it will be the first time that the team has made it back to the tournament since the team lost in the first round of the 2001 tournament to DePaul.
The Cougars enter the match on a four-game skid, while ECU has gone 1-3 in its last four outings.
The winner of the Houston/ECU match faces the No. 1 seeded Louisville Cardinals (24-2, 12-0) on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.(EST) The winner of that match advances to the semifinals on Sunday, with the championship being held on Monday evening at 8:00 p.m. (EST).
Use the URL below to access LIVE STATS or click on the UH volleyball schedule link and select click on LIVE STATS next to C-USA Tournament.
http://uoflsports.collegesports.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/04-cusa-tourney.html
