Chicago, IL (Nov. 13) - The University of Houston volleyball team has earned a first round bye as the No. 4 seed of the 2000 Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament this week in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Cougars will face the winner of the DePaul (No. 5 seed)-UAB (No. 12 seed) match on Friday, November 17, at 3:00 p.m. The DePaul-UAB match will be played on Thursday (Nov. 16) at 3:00 p.m.

The Cougars, 19-8 overall and 11-5 in the C-USA regular season, are after a second league tournament title. UH has been a semifinalist every year it has been a member of Conference USA.

For live play-by-play, statistics, photos and recaps of each 2000 Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament match, fans may go to the league's official website, www.c-usasports.com during each tournament game. A full schedule appears below while a PDF file has also been attached to this release.

FIRST ROUND
Thursday, November 16
Match 1 - (9) Marquette vs. (8) Saint Louis, 1 p.m.
Match 2 - (12) UAB vs. (5) DePaul, 3 p.m.
Match 3 - (11) Memphis vs. (6) Tulane, 6 p.m.
Match 4 - (10) Southern Miss vs. (7) Charlotte, 8 p.m.

QUARTERFINALS
Friday, November 17
Match 5 - MAR/SLU winner vs. (1) South Florida, 1 p.m.
Match 6 - UAB/DPU winner vs. (4) Houston, 3 p.m.
Match 7 - MEM/TUL winner vs. (3) Louisville, 6 p.m.
Match 8 - USM/CHA winner vs. (2) Cincinnati, 8 p.m.

SEMIFINALS
Saturday, November 18
Match 9 - Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner, 1 p.m.
Match 10 - Match 7 winner vs. Match 8 winner, 3 p.m.

FINALS
Sunday, November 19
Match 11 - Semifinal winners, 2 p.m.

All times are Eastern