Sept. 18, 2008

HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team will delay the 2008 home opener another week as a result of Hurricane Ike and travel to the UT Arlington/Holiday Inn Invitational on Sept. 19-20. The Cougars were a last minute addition to the tournament after canceling a home match against Lamar and the Flo Hyman Invitational in Houston.

The Cougars (4-5) will play two matches at the tournament, opening with UALR at 1pm on Friday and closing with UT Arlington at 1pm on Saturday.

UALR enters the weekend with a 9-1 record, their lone loss coming against Colorado. UH is 2-1 all-time against the Trojans. Houston won the last meeting 3-1 at the Clarion Invitational in Waco, Texas in 2006.

UT-Arlington is 4-7 on the year after going 1-2 last weekend at the UT Arlington/Hilton Invitational. Houston is 26-19 all-time in the series after opening 2007 with a 3-0 win against the Mavericks in Houston.

Through nine matches this season, senior Justine Farmer leads the Cougars with 122 kills and senior Kelsey King leads the team with 387 assists. Sophomore Amanda Carson holds team-highs in service aces (16) and digs (102.

Log onto www.UHCougars.com for a complete wrap-up of each day's events. The Cougars match against UT Arlington will be available through Gametracker by logging onto www.utamavs.com.

Following the tournament, Houston will play its first home match of the 2008 season on Sept. 23 against Sam Houston State at 7pm before opening Conference USA play on Sept. 26 at Tulane.