Nov. 21, 2002

CHICAGO - Houston's Jenny Tanneberger, Jaci Gonzalez and Jane Anne Karasek earned all-conference honors as Conference USA announced its 2002 volleyball award winners at the tournament banquet Thursday evening at the Chicago Hilton.

Houston's Jenny Tanneberger earned First Team All-C-USA honors for the second year in a row. The 6-0 senior middle hitter leads the squad in kills (532), and is averaging 5.12 kills per game and hitting .321. 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.

Cougar libero Jaci Gonzalez was the only freshman named to the All-C-USA Second Team in 2002. Gonzalez has led Houston to the top of C-USA defensive standings, averaging 4.50 digs per game against C-USA opponents.

Despite a fractured arm that forced her to miss half the C-USA season, Jane Anne Karasek garnered Third-Team All-C-USA honors for her performance as a senior. Karasek is second on the Houston squad in kills per game (3.82) and third in total kills (298) in 2002.

C-USA Co-Champions South Florida claimed three major individual awards, including Nancy Mueller as Coach of the Year, Ale Domingos as Setter of the Year and Michelle Collier as C-USA Player of the Year.

Houston, who is seeded seventh in this year's tournament, will face 10th-seeded TCU in the opening match Friday at 1 p.m. at the DePaul Athletic Center. The winner of the Houston/TCU match will face No. 2 seed South Florida (26-6, 12-1 C-USA) Saturday at 1 p.m.

Tomorrow's match will be the teams' third meeting this season. The Cougars (17-11, 7-6 C-USA) and Horned Frogs (12-17, 4-9 C-USA) met Sept. 6 in the Crowne Plaza/Rice Invitational and Oct. 18 in a C-USA match at Hofheinz Pavilion. Houston won both contests 3-0.

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2002 CONFERENCE USA VOLLEYBALL AWARDS

First Team All-C-USA Bonita Wise, MB, Cincinnati Jenny Tanneberger, MH, Houston Sarah Drury, L, Louisville Bing Sun, OH, Louisville Colleen Hunter, OH, Saint Louis Michelle Collier, OH, South Florida Alessandra Domingos, S, South Florida

Second Team All-C-USA Julie DuPont, OH, Cincinnati Trish Ladusaw, OH, Cincinnati Jaci Gonzalez, L, Houston Benny Flynn, OH, Louisville Stacey Mercer, MB, Louisville Britney Hurst, OH, Tulane Martina Shields, OH, UAB

Third Team All-C-USA Courtney Burg, OH, Charlotte Laura Darnell, L, Charlotte Laura Lauder, S, Cincinnati Jane Anne Karasek, MB, Bonnye Glover, MB, South Florida Andrea Bush, OH, Southern Miss Dominika Szabo, OH, TCU

All-Freshman Team Lisa Newell, MB, Charlotte Jennifer Craven, S, Louisville Lena Ustymenko, OH, Louisville Theresa Coughlin, OH, Marquette Corinne Walsh, MB, South Florida Kelli Dickson, S, Tulane

Player of the Year: Michelle Collier, South Florida

Coach of the Year: Nancy Mueller, South Florida

Setter of the Year: Alessandra Domingos, South Florida

Defensive Player of the Year: Trish Ladusaw, Cincinnati

Freshman of the Year: Jennifer Craven, Louisville

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