Nov. 14, 2002

HOUSTON - The University of Houston volleyball team will continue its campaign for a 21st consecutive winning season this week at Charlotte and East Carolina. The Conference USA matches will wrap up the Cougars' regular season schedule before they head to Chicago for the 2002 Healthy Choice C-USA Tournament Nov. 22-25.

The Cougars (16-10, 6-5 C-USA) will face the 49ers (15-14, 5-6 C-USA) Friday at Halton Arena and the Pirates (6-24, 0-11 C-USA) Saturday at Williams Arena. Both matches are slated to begin at 6 p.m.

Houston is currently sixth in C-USA standings and has already earned its berth in the 2002 tournament with two regular-season conference matches remaining.

The Cougars are led by three-time 2002 C-USA Player of the Week Jenny Tanneberger. The 6-0 senior middle hitter leads the squad in kills (490), and is averaging 5.16 kills per game and hitting .326. Her 41-kill performance on Oct. 12 at Saint Louis broke the school record and tied the C-USA and 2002 Division I high for most kills in a single match.

Freshman libero Jaci Gonzalez has led the Cougars to the top of C-USA defensive standings, averaging 4.64 digs per game against C-USA opponents. Houston leads the conference in digs, totaling 1,825 and averaging 19.21 per game as a squad in 2002.

The 2002 C-USA volleyball banquet will be held in Chicago Nov. 21 prior to the first round of the tournament. Tanneberger, Gonzalez and setter Donna Sellen have been nominated for all-conference awards this season, including All-C-USA, Freshman of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Setter of the Year.

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